


The Run

by ShadyQuiet



Series: Of Worms and Wolves. [1]
Category: James Bond (Craig movies), James Bond (Movies), Sherlock (TV), Skyfall (2012) - Fandom, Spooks | MI-5
Genre: ...It sounds very dark but I swear things get better, Alpha!James, Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Bonding, Bondlock, Dark, Developing Relationship, Dubious Consent, Fluff and Angst, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Multi, Psychological and physiological trauma, Quite a lot of Whump, Rape/Non-con Elements, Romance, Shifting/shapeshifters, The first few chapters will be the darkest, Violence/agression, Wolves, mentions of mpreg, omega!Q
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-04-28
Updated: 2014-06-20
Packaged: 2018-01-21 04:20:28
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 13
Words: 40,519
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1537304
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ShadyQuiet/pseuds/ShadyQuiet
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Wolf Law dictates that alphas must prove they are worthy of a mate by first catching their omega. This has always been tradition since before the first pack split.<br/>Nowadays The Run has descended into some twisted shadow of what it once was. With barely any omegas to go around and a crippling surplus of unmated alphas tradition has turned barbaric and become one small step away from a death sentence.</p><p>Q is bloody terrified, alone, and facing down a pack of nearly feral alphas that mean to take him however they can.</p><p>He has, fittingly, only one single minded plan to save his own skin in any way possible: <i>run</i>.<br/> </p><p>  <b>Please heed tags for this story</b></p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Howl

**Author's Note:**

> Not long ago I completed a rather long and very fluff-happy story with similar themes. This story, well, became the Jekyll/Hyde catharsis to keep the balance.
> 
> Very unpleasant things happen at first, but if you can manage through the first few chapters then you will have seen the worst.
> 
> That said, please enjoy.
> 
> (New chapter will be up tomorrow, and the 'artwork' is my own)

[](http://imgur.com/JFinp41)

___

Panic didn’t begin to cover it. Q had known this day was coming as soon as he identified as an omega from birth, but it wasn’t something he could have prepared for…

Or he could have, but he’d much preferred to spend his time running away from it and drowning himself in other things, or following Sherlock around before he ran away… Mycroft was no help.

“You’re an omega, Q, you have to run.” Well he bloody well _knew_ that didn’t he! Blanca damn it.

The omega run took place once every year, and involved all unmated omegas and alphas.

Up until the age of sixteen, Q had been under the protection of Mycroft and his direct family within the pack… But then Mummy had died and Sherlock had been chased away by Moriarty’s father, who had taken over the pack until Moriarty killed him. It was a reign of terror, and although Mycroft held a lot of power within the pack, and even more with neighbouring ones if he was to be believed, he couldn’t protect his little brother from the inevitable.

Omegas were increasingly rare. When Q was first born there’d been nearly as many as alphas, but sickness had stolen into the packs and taken them. And then the runs turned vicious from competition and few omegas survived the stress of so many alphas chasing them.

Mycroft had used considerable power to shield Q from the disease and keep him safe, but now he was of age, and his heat was going to be coming soon, young though he was. Mycroft had noticed the change in his scent instantly; it gave about a week’s warning before the whole pack could smell it. Q was two weeks away from being ready to mate.

He was the only omega in his pack.

Wolf Law dictated that Omegas be released to run on the outskirts of ‘no man’s land’: the mountain range of unfavourable forest and deep terrain that was home to no pack since the Great War. By the time of the run, all packs for territories around would know, either through rumour or being able to smell him. As the only omega, there would be no hiding his unique scent.

In times gone by, all packs would release their omegas at once, encouraging genetic diversity and pack links… But omegas were few and far between, within Q’s own pack, there was but one other young one, who had been run out just prior to Sherlock’s escape. She was barely alive anymore, now, but had at least managed to produce one new omega, and another alpha pup.

The main problem was that, whilst beta’s could breed with each other and increase numbers, most children produced were the same sex as their parents, or a weak impersonation of alpha or omega. Beta-born alphas were typically low ranking and rarely taken as mates. Beta-born omegas could be anything from infertile to prone to ill health. Few if any survived childbirth, and never produced a healthy baby when bred with an alpha.

Alphas were needed to run the pack and defend it. Omegas were needed to continue the pack and care for it. Stereotypics in biology that were cruelly but painfully true. All the packs were failing without the omegas, and with no new alphas being born either the air was fraught with worry. Betas were capable of looking after themselves, but tended to have low initiative and motivation when there was no one around them to either guide them or for them to help. They needed alphas and omegas as much as the opposite was true.

Mycroft was an alpha, but he’d never desired being head of the pack, and wasn’t designed for combat so much as thinking. Sherlock trod the line between beta and alpha so closely that sometimes it was hard to tell, but Q had spent enough time as a pup with his brother to know the alpha was a front. Q was an omega, plain and simple. Oh, he was sharp as a knife, and despised the idea of conforming as much as he feared being bonded to someone in any way… But in body, Q was slight, unthreatening, and tended to draw others to him.

Mummy used to tell him he was gorgeous, and people often reaffirmed it, but Q didn’t feel beautiful. He felt like that pup running through the woods after sneaking out with Sherlock, dirt on his snout and paws and twigs caught in his long wavy fur, determined to find a way to make that gap crossable or slow the churn of water in a river enough to bathe, figure out how to catch fish through the ice of the lakes…

Now, he was going to be run out like all of his sex before him. Mycroft was furious, as were many of their pack.

It just didn’t make sense anymore, these methods. Many were keen to go back to the days where lowland wolves would court instead of chase; a tradition brought down from the highlands.

Q was a highland wolf. Mummy had strong blood and had even passed into the mountains in order to give birth to each of her pups, Q knew he could run, knew he was born to… But, that didn’t make it safe.

When there were plenty of omegas and alphas both, stakes were lower, competition less fierce. Now it was downright dangerous to run. Alphas lost their lives in bloody conflicts and omegas were stressed to the point of delirium and exhaustion, running for their very lives. If Q got caught in the middle of several alphas fighting over him, though none would harm him purposefully, he could be gravely injured. If an emotionally and adrenaline sprung alpha caught him, they could hurt him with the need to claim, especially if Q tried to fight. Because he would. Because he’d either be terrified or be trying to do anything to avoid being bonded. Even if none of the above happened, which was unlikely, then Q would most likely run himself ragged until he couldn’t resist.

Mated alphas and strong betas prowled no man’s land during the run in case any omegas got into serious trouble, being the only fertile omega he was extremely precious… but they would only try and drive him towards an alpha, whoever was nearest.

The thought Q dreaded most was the mating. Followed by a lifetime of servitude and breeding. Surely he was worth more than that?

Either way, he had no choice. The pack grumbled about the danger, the stupidity of running him out and risking their only breeding omega. Talked that keeping him in-pack would at least promote their own stability and chances. But none of them actually did anything.

For the last few days alphas had been trailing their hands over him as if to lay an imaginary claim. It wouldn’t work of course, but it made him highly uncomfortable, and even Moriarty was constantly guiding him around and showing him the starting line with a hand resting on his rump, daring occasionally to squeeze when no one was watching.

Q felt sick. He felt trapped.

Mycroft woke him on the morning, pulled him out of bed when he refused to emerge, helped him pull shaking limbs through clothes and into a fitted collar that would prevent him from shifting. At least the material was dark, easier to hide in.

His brother made him drink and eat, then led him to the starting line. The depths of forest spread out before him and Q noted at least that it was a downhill start. He was nimble, could avoid the dense forest floor and duck under branches, the alphas wouldn’t be so lucky, and hopefully would sustain some damage along the way. Q didn’t even want to think about how many other packs would be joining the throng of twenty alphas from his own.

Mycroft’s hand on his shoulder turned him to say goodbye, good luck. If the young omega was claimed by a wolf of another pack there was no guarantee when, or if, he would see his brother again. Q was still surprised when he was pulled into an embrace, but felt too tense to do more than claw a hand into his brother’s shirt.

“Just keep running Q, just keep running, head west, trust me.” Q managed not to look surprised, he knew when his brother had a plan, but he just prayed it worked. In a rare show of affection and emotion he hadn’t allowed from himself since Sherlock was driven out and people begun paying attention to his omega status, Q turned and buried his face briefly into his brother’s neck, nuzzling roughly once before pulling back and halting any response.

“Run.” Mycroft mouthed as he stepped back into the crowd. Q gulped, looked ahead and tried not to think about or smell the pack of nearly rabid sounding alphas behind him, feeling the focus of their attention keenly.

“Q will have a ten minute head start, as is tradition. Prepare yourself.” Q dropped into a crouch start and mutters began to spread through the crowd, turning into calls, some encouragement, some tips, some wordless cheers. The alphas were growling and howling. Except Moriarty, intense and silent for once.

Q was showing them that he was serious, and their natures were responding to the challenge.

They wanted to catch him? They’d have to fucking try!

“GO!”

The wordless roar from the crowd punched Q’s heart into overdrive as he sprang forth into a dead sprint down the hill. In under a minute the noise and light was closed behind him as he sped through the undergrowth and trees. At the bottom of the slope he leapt into a welcome but surprising stream whilst he was still fresh and followed it uphill striking West. Q ditched it two minutes later before the water tired him out too much and began darting through trunks up hill.

Another two minutes had him reaching a decline that he streaked down like lightning, keen to use his speed and agility as much as he could for the head start. Up and over the valley, Q was just sprinting along its ridge when the most almighty howl broke the air from Southeast behind him. His own pack releasing the alphas. Then, mirroring, the call was picked up in a huge wide circle, spinning through the air as each pack cried to release their own hunters.

The volume of howls was horrifying, and here he was, all alone in the wilderness, utterly surrounded.

Q realised that his plan would only lead him into different alphas. He had no idea how many. But the air spinning with howls spoke of many. And Q was the only omega.

A terror so primal gripped him that Q whined a little and shot off like a sprung hare, running faster then he ever had in his entire life, scenery blurring past him and catching at him ruthlessly. He had to run, run, run!

West. The deepest part of no man’s land. If he could get there without being caught.

He couldn’t be caught. He couldn’t be caught!


	2. Tree

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well wowzers thank you for all the kudosing and comments! I hope you continue to enjoy :3
> 
> Things get darker during this chapter and the next particularly, just for a heads up.
> 
> As an extra note, knowledge of characters from Sherlock may be desirable for reading this, but as for Spooks there's not much you'll need by way of background information, simply that its set in MI5 and I'll be occasionally borrowing characters from there. The main bulk will be, of course, from James Bond.

[](http://imgur.com/oyFs6ge)

___

 

Q managed to avoid all contact with alphas for just one hour, when a blundering thug all but ran into him as it barrelled down hill. The omega gasped and skipped out of the way as his heart stampeded. He wasted no time lunging on, panting, using the alpha’s slow turning circle to his advantage.

Could he out run it? Would this really be the end so soon? It was blind terror that fuelled him right into the waiting arms of another behemoth who swung out from behind a tree to snag him. Q’s breath left him in a winded rush as he hung for precious moments in disgustingly thick arms. The victorious growl was all he could hear past his thumping blood until a terrible force punched into both of them and knocked them flying.

Q twisted and scrabbled out of the grip as he went down, took one look back to see the two alphas clawing each other apart, blood splattering, and he scratched his way up and ran. The image burned in his eyes along with the scent in his nostrils.

Too fucking close!

Those alphas weren’t from his own pack, he didn’t know the smell of them. They must have started closer to where he was now rather than where he’d started.

But that was just one hour, and if there’d only been one alpha that would have been it…

Q felt sick, but didn’t dare stop to retch as he sprinted on. Whoever won that fight may be injured and not a threat, but the smell would swiftly carry. The first body of water Q found, a rotten looking pond, he headed straight for.

Jumping onto the rocks nearby Q ripped a bit of his trouser swiftly and lashed it to a stone, lobbing it far as he could downstream, he threw a couple more to look like scuffs going that way. Hopefully some of his scent would carry in that direction. Somewhat happy with the deception, he slid noiselessly from the rocks into the water to avoid leaving tracks in the mud by the edge, trying not to touch the bottom and disturb the muck. With a gasp he ducked under and swam slowly as he could force himself to under the layer of algae that ran a meter from the edge.

At the other side Q hauled himself up in an area full of animal tracks, hoping the rotten scent of the water would throw off some pursuers, and lurched on.

He’d been running for five hours before he begun feeling the true burn of fatigue, but he didn’t dare stop. He’d been lucky so far, but he’d be caught. He would always be caught. They didn’t end the run just because an omega was proving illusive, and the mediators would know where he was without much trouble. Betas and mated alphas smelt a lot duller during stress and heat. Q wouldn’t notice them as much to run from. And they wouldn’t be clouded by lust; blind to his more cunning deceptions. Not to mention they worked in groups, rather than the individual approaches of each alpha chasing him.

Some how, probably within the first day, he’d be caught unless he could get to whatever plan it was that Mycroft had in the west. At least there he could hide, and there wouldn’t be wind to carry back his scent.

How many alphas were after him though? The hopelessness threatened to crush the remaining air from his lungs.

Q figured that if he could make it to the deepest part by midnight, he stood a chance of… something.

Most omegas zigzagged, backtracked, hid, attempted to leave trails for an alpha they already felt close to, and stuck to the closer parts of the forest where there was the possibility of rescue from a mediator should they be gravely injured.

There were reasons that no one headed west from his pack. If you headed it truthfully, it took you right to the deepest parts at the feet of the impassable mountains; to the killing grounds of the Great War. Even headed that way, Q could smell the oncoming stench of ancient dead wolf and murder, decay… It _hurt_ to head towards that.

Omegas, even worse when approaching heat or pregnant, were sensitive to scents that were in any way unfavourable. There was good reason no omegas ventured down there.

Better to aim for the safety of swinging close by and luring a potentially only averagely aggressive alpha if you still had your wits intact.

Not that there was any guarantee of holding that.

Technically, the run didn’t end until mating was official; mating wasn’t official until a full heat cycle was spent or completed with one significant alpha. Usually, the first intercourse in a heat would suffice to produce a strong enough mating bond to ward off almost all intruders, especially if the alpha was powerful enough to pack some authority into growling away curious noses; alphas with a claimed omega in heat were notoriously feral and strengthened…

But, and here was the final insult to the injury, Q wasn’t in heat. Yet.

Any alpha that found him would fuck him, and then have to wait until his heat came up to have anything more than a temporary claim.

There was no telling how many hands he could pass through before one managed to hold him through his heat… And even once it started, competition was so fierce that that might not be enough of a put off. Last omega from his pack had been caught within a few hours, pulled from a tree, in heat, and claimed… until the next day another alpha battered her first and raped her, terrified and out of her mind with heat and pain and the muddled loss of a burgeoning bond.

She’d nearly gone insane.

Q couldn’t stand the thought of one alpha deciding they ‘owned’ his body… let alone more than one.

Q couldn’t stand the thought of being caught and touched at all.

Maybe once, when he was little it had seemed romantic and exciting enough, watching the chase, the way some pairs were just ‘known’ that they would be together and left alone, the others maybe nervous, but some thrilled…

Now Q knew there was no kindness, no welcome waiting him, no safety or security… nothing an omega needed.

It would be rough, and undoubtedly painful, fuelled by urgency and victory and his own terror. Fucked and claimed like a prize as much as one would rip into the carcass of a first successful hunt. There would be no enjoyment, the desperation of both parties promised that. And it was only necessary for one partner to gain any pleasure out of it.

Q might be tough and quick footed but he was an omega by nature even where others of his sex managed to branch out into kinks. He hated pain.

Now he was looking at a lifetime bound to someone who would cause him the most agonising and scarring mental and physical pain in his life.

-00Q00-

Afternoon descended into evening before Q next ran into an alpha.

There were four.

Blank with terror for precious seconds he froze until they lunged. Q threw a stone at one of their heads and heard it hit with a groan as he turned and ran. Just out of sight round a corner he leapt into a tree and scurried up like a squirrel.

Two of the alphas leapt at the tree and jeered until one bumped the other and they fell into a snarling heap.

Q hid his face to the sight when one slashed open the other’s throat with its teeth. A sick, chocking squelch from the second alpha made him look down, the third had stabbed the second with a knife, illegal and in all ways merciless.

Their eyes met, and the tanned, bright blonde alpha began to climb.

For a moment all Q could hear was rushing silence.

“Here puppy puppy.” Q blanched and scrambled higher desperately. “Aw, I don’t want to hurt you, we can even stay in this tree if you like it so much pretty thing. We just need to make love clever boy.”

Q couldn’t go any higher; the tree was too thin. Chest heaving he looked around frantically for some kind of weapon, mind closing in at the corners with primal panic. There was another pine, close, thin enough at the top that the trajectory predicted it would bend into a third one not far off… if he could make the jump, then shimmy up the third tree he could reach more, there was no shortage.

He may not be an alpha, but he had two advantages: brains and build. This alpha would break any branches it leapt for; Q was nimble and light enough to make it. The alpha might not be much slower on the ground, but he’d have to climb down there first. The trail would be obvious, but his scent would be carried above the trees. If he could find a route for long enough he might gain a lot of speed avoiding obstacles on the ground… His brain was swift enough at analysing and spatial awareness that he wouldn’t have to pause to think.

“Don’t climb any higher my pretty thing, I can’t catch you if you fall, I don’t want you hurt. Come, one first time and then I’ll take you somewhere safe. I can smell the heat coming in you.”

Q was high enough, and couldn’t climb higher without tipping the tree… but when the alpha saw him pause and look where he planned to jump the sweet, coaxing demeanour changed into a snarl of displeasure and annoyance. Q squeaked and swore as the man lurched higher at a frightening pace, barely an arm below him, and flung himself out of the tree.

He felt a sharp sting and weightlessness before the branches of his aim slammed into him and he grabbed on instinct.

Winded and head whirling, heart thundering with adrenalin and terror, Q felt the entire tree dip, bend towards the upper middle of the next, leaving it out of range for the alpha to even attempt a jump. The branch had barely held Q.

The wordless roar of rage from behind him lubricated his frenzied slip from one tree to the other where branches tangled.

He slithered up the trunk, panting rapidly as the sound of the tree crashing back into the first echoed through the forest alongside a shout of either fury or pain. Q felt a vindictive stab at the thought of the creepy blonde monster experiencing pain by his hand, and threw himself with a small, gritted grin into the painfully bruising welcome of the next tree.

The bashes were smarting but brief as adrenaline pushed him on, and on, a pathway of canopies opening up before him.

At one dense patch he could even send all the trees in a circle rattling off each other with the ricochet of the one whose trunk he’d bent with weight again. The idea of leaving a false trail was a surge of hope from the depths of panic as he begun heading back west.

Managing to span over a gorge, followed by a valley and river, granted him some savage determination and satisfaction that squashed down the exhaustion clawing at him.

Travelling this way cost too much energy, and he couldn’t likely keep it up for long, least of all because of the racket only slightly disguised by the wind. He hadn’t drunk all day, and night was falling to make vision difficult. He didn’t dare sleep.

He stood no chance, and the mediators would find him soon enough as soon as he ceased being able to run and would herd him into the drooling arms of the nearest alpha. The only chance was to make it into the deep west dead zone where at least, hopefully, half the alphas would be driven away by either the stench or their own assumptions of his weak nature… as long as he could get deep enough that his scent was concealed by a good radius.

After that his fate would be largely down to how good his brother’s connections really were. Whatever they were…

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapters will get steadily longer and are thus-far pre-written. I plan to update twice/week at the moment, since they're not very long chapters right now.
> 
> Hope you enjoyed and see you next chapter!


	3. Fall

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for the kudosing and comments! I appreciate it most toastily :3  
> Please enjoy!
> 
> **WARNING:** please heed tags for this chapter.

[](http://imgur.com/GRAqB8I)

 

\---

 

Q eventually reached rock, and could use the pines no further. He managed to swing one final tree in order to make it half way up a cliff, and latched onto the outcroppings. His legs shook and his head tricked him with the lingering movement of trees. It would be dawn, soon, and he was exhausted. The panic however kept driving him on. No water, food, rest, no time to think.

The trees had helped carry him, but the line hadn’t been as straight as Q had hoped, he would have to cross these ridge cliffs and scale them down into Death Valley, then he would be as safe as possible. Not that that counted for much. He hung onto the cliff face for a moment, panting, head pounding and throat dry. If only he could shift into his wolf form then he could run faster. But no such luck.

A growl from beneath him jumped Q’s mind into focus. Not twenty feet below him, starting to climb, was an alpha. This one was different in appearance to anyone he’d seen before, and the scent wafting up for a moment completely blindsided him.

_Overwhelming_.

Q’s entire being begun to shake from the stress and fatigue, it would be oh so tempting to let fear take him here, freeze him to the rock… Shaking himself, Q jumped for the next ledge, his grip slipping with a yelp when his right leg gave way in a stab of pain. The omega scrabbled whilst the alpha below shouted some warning. Q slipped back to his original perch.

He couldn’t reach a tree from here. The stone face was nearly sheer and for some reason his leg wasn’t working. Q saw the man getting closer; dark neat hair, strong nose, blue eyes.

“Careful! Don’t slip or you’ll fall!” He shouted up. Q whimpered, crumpled on his legs, and turned to scrabble upright.

With another few weakened pounces and crumble of rock from above Q nearly went over the edge with another shout from both him and the alpha. He clung on, breathing frantic, cursing himself for walking into a trap and his leg throbbing.

He hadn’t even made it to the valley, he didn’t understand why his right leg kept shaking out from under him, why the stones beneath his feet were slippy.

“You’re hurt, just stay still, please!” Q didn’t understand, he looked down, and felt dizzy at the sight of a horrific gash down through his right calf, it seemed impossible that he could have got it without noticing… the flash of pain as he escaped the alpha in the trees, the one with the knife.

Q whined and panted, his brain wasn’t working properly, he was going mad from exhaustion and probably blood loss. With a snarling desperation he pushed up again, his leg caught in agony and Q went down badly, scratching his body on the ledge and barely holding on. Everything spun around his mind until he wretched dryly, turning to cling onto the stone.

“Easy omega, just let me get to you.” The alpha was only feet below, what was he doing staying still? But he was stuck, stuck and he needed help, and this alpha smelt different.

It had to just be his brain addling itself in desperation. He wouldn’t go down like this! Q kicked a set of stones off his ledge and heard the alpha curse before Q tried to get up again. With a desperate leap he managed to grasp hold of the ledge above. And the world crumbled away under his fingers.

Dual screams broke the air under the thunderous crumble. Q saw the forest tilt above him and slammed his eyes shut before pain smashed into his body as he blindly clawed.

Q came to blinking, already awake, body shooting with pain and a whine in his throat. He felt crushed, and realised sluggishly that he was embedded in a rockslide. His head throbbed, ankle, wrist and his back and chest.

“Omega! Are you ok?” Q heard the deep, worried tone, couldn’t understand it, but tried to reach for it on instinct before remembering himself and curling away. The motion caused the rocks to shift and had him yelping again.

“Just stay still, please stay still, I’m coming.”

_Not comforting_! Q thought, and gave a panicked half-struggle until the rock movements chocked his own off in a frantic and terrified mewl.

Dark and blue had managed to breach the ledge a couple of meters from Q, and he couldn’t move. The alpha came close, hand on Q’s head even though he tried to snap and bite.

“Shh, shh, I’m going to get you out, calm down and don’t move.” Q could hardly fight, and whined through the removal of rocks around him. The injuries he’d sustained had him crying out when the alpha tried to move him, and flailing, which hurt more. The man waited until Q couldn’t fight from exhaustion and pain before grabbing him and rolling the omega over his shoulders.

Q lolled and gasped in pain as the man carried him up-cliff. The rockslide must have cleared a more passable pathway to the top.

If Q could somehow get away then he was closer-

The thought cut off as soon as it had come, he was weak, badly hurt, couldn’t move without pain and exhausted. He was no match for an alpha. Rain pattered against him, dampening his scratched clothes and tangled hair, making him shiver.

“Shh, you’re safe.” They reached the top and Q was rolled onto his back carefully. A flare of pain spasmd through him with a rough cry and there were hands on him, shushing him.

“I’ve got you, you can trust me-“ The words rang as meaningful before multiple growls wrought the air. Q gasped and tried to thrust around and look but pain stabbed at him from every angle till he was reeling and whimpering from it.

Underneath, the sounds of a fight broke out, vicious and close. Something hit Q, grabbed at him and wrenched him till he cried out in pain, struggling with blind terror.

They were wrenched apart and firm hands grasped his shoulders, shaking him into opening wide eyes.

“ _RUN_!” Dark and blue roared the words and Q’s body flinched into action as though stung. He managed to curl up his legs to pounce away clumsily when the alpha was ripped back and torn into with a bellow, fighting back against two murder-strung men. A fourth alpha lunged for Q, who squeaked and scrabbled backwards before he was collided into with a shout of “NO!” Barely rocking around his mind.

Q clawed and rolled and weightlessness grabbed his body. A fist twisted in his jumper and his fall was jerked to a stop by the bunched material half strangling him and wrenching out his arms.

He chocked, and flailed as the rain slicked clothes begun to slide off him. There was fighting from above and just as his twisting arms fought loose there was a snarl and someone grabbed his forearm.

“Hold on!” Q’s panic abated enough to recognise dark and blue and realise he was dangling over the other side of the cliff. With a cry he scrabbled for the rock with free hand and legs, body protesting. A shout of pain from above, jerking down his arm, the other alphas had fallen on dark and blue.

They both gasped and the blue eyes wrenched open on him.

“RUN!” He repeated, and let go of Q’s arm. Heart skipping beats Q plastered himself to the side of the cliff and begun a barely controlled series of dashes and slips down the wetting rock, breath hammering in his throat and head spinning.

Q made it down twenty meters before tears spiked at his eyes on top of his other coordination-destroying injuries.

It occurred to him that he might have just left the one decent alpha he’d met being torn to shreds at the top of the cliff, and that he’d never be lucky enough to get that chance again. Next time he’d be raped, beaten into submission, and likely be screaming.

Even with that, he ran on blindly, unable to contemplate going back.

His brain was short-circuiting, an instinctual slam of run-run-run adrenaline forcing him to the tree line.

Q crashed into the base of huge pines, panting, barely able to draw breath, dizzily terrified, and squirmed back into himself, frightened, when an accidental inhale surrounded him with the scent of death.

So close, he was so close, and the smell was rancid and horrible. Q pushed himself onto his hands and vomited in pain and terror and the stench.

He just had to get through this ridge of trees, down the gorge, and he was there in the valley.

But his body was nearly broken, and stress was clouding his mind.

Without the presence of mind to care for his injuries or what they could mean, Q staggered upright and limped into a weak-legged stagger, bumping off trees as he went.

-00Q00-

Making it to the edge of the forest cover had taken a ridiculous amount of time, on occasions requiring crawling. Q was panting and filthy by the time he had made it to the limestone gorge and waterfall.

“Well it took some time to find you my pretty.” Dread curdled in Q as Moriarty’s voice stole over him, calm and psychotic and lethal. He looked over; saw the man leering over his form with no remorse for the state of him.

A dangerous sneering smile lit his crazed face as their eyes met.

“I’ve been waiting so long to do this to you darling.” Q’s entire body screamed negative and forced him upright. Where was another bloody alpha when you needed them!

Moriarty gave a harsh bark of laugh and leapt after him as Q skittered off. How had he gotten here so quickly? How had he known?

A hand scraped Q’s shoulder and all thought was lost to him.

Q careered through rocks, trees, bushes, screamed when Moriarty slammed into him and pinned him to the floor, hands mercilessly stamping into his bruised back and making him _shriek_ with pain.

The alpha laughed with raucous glee, loud and clear over the thundering of the Reichenbach falls below that marked the entrance of Death Valley.

“You’re _mine_ now little Sherlock.” The monster purred in his ear, Q thrashed as the thing laughed. This wasn’t even about Q! This was about Moriarty’s obsession with his brother!

“Stay _still_!” a harsh cuff to the back of the head left him dizzy and limp temporarily. Q blinked himself back together when he felt a hand tug down his trousers and prod at his entrance. Q _snapped_ , twisting up and around until his teeth bit into flesh and chomped down _hard_.

Blood filled his mouth with the sick taste of Moriarty as the alpha screamed and whacked his body with heavy blows.

Q’s mind tunnelled down into the one route of action that would save him: hold on. However much an alpha was only using him uncaringly, or was willing to push him around into submission, it went against the very _core_ of their nature to aim to kill. Even if the alpha went to strangle him, he’d let go before Q did, and he had his teeth in the man’s neck.

Even if Moriarty could defy his need to claim rather than kill the _only_ omega for miles, Q would rather be dead anyway than mated to the alpha.

Together they thrashed, Moriarty getting more violent, Q getting more desperate, perilously close to the cliff edge.

Q was blind to all else until a series of bellowed battle cries stampeded the air and Moriarty was clawing not Q but others, too many others. Q, terror-struck and blind to his purpose, clung onto the bleeding neck regardless of hands grabbing him and the screams and growls from Moriarty and other alphas. His body was flung and wrenched from side to side with grabbing hands until large hands found his jaw and forced him free with inhuman strength.

Q tumbled backwards, and into a pile of other men.

 

Panting for his life and struggling Q was overloaded with touch and scent and fright.

Hands grabbed at his legs, feet, arms, head and tangled in his hair. They ran and grabbed down his body as multiple people tugged him to and fro.

The only thing stronger than his agony and terror was the scent of alpha musk descending into his brain and the seer certainty that he was about to be either raped or ripped apart. Blood splattered onto him along with salty fluid he could name but flinched at the thought of, some attempting to rub their scent onto his skin.

Snarling deafened him to even his own screams and whimpers. The ground met his face hard with the smell of torn grass and he was wrenched backwards by the legs.

Q felt heat and flailed until he was blanketed and crushed by the heavy weight of alpha flattening him, flesh on his back searing as if scolded, hands on his hips, something hard poking up between his legs.

Convulsions had him thrashing even as other alphas tore at the one on top of him. Fingers fiddled over his tight entrance, alpha growling and snarling in his ear as Q cried and struggled.

The breach burned like nothing he had ever experienced and had him scream bloodily enough to burn his throat. The alpha was grunting with effort, his cock was hot and wetter than Q could ever be before he had a first heat, dribbling all down his thighs. The man yelled in pain and his weight was gone.

Q shot forwards, aware by the wet warmth spreading down the front of his thighs that he had wet himself and that he was by far not the only one too far gone to care.

Another, taller alpha grabbed at Q and before he could fight back had him manhandled into a ball. This one wasted no time and a wet sound squelched before ejaculate-sticky fingers pushed into him. Contained as he was, he couldn’t do more than scream. Fingers waggled inside him, thrusting to open him and Q couldn’t move his body worth a damn, heart pounding a mile a minute and head fizzing out, body excruciated.

The band of alphas returned from killing the last to rip this one off Q, out of Q. He couldn’t do more than slump to the side and claw before he was flattened again.

Blunt, violent and hot pressure at his entrance pushing inside too _fucking much pain_!

Q’s corresponding scream had the alphas inadvertently freeing him and tearing each other apart. Q’s brain spasmd as his body jolted, gasping great staggered lung-fulls of air, blood and the sound of flesh tearing and bones breaking filled the air with screams.

The alphas were killing each other. Q had to get out get outgetout.

Whining, he pushed himself forwards, shaking, and managed to gain his feet, somehow, by pure dire need, bleeding and smothered in dirt and pain. Q was well aware that his body and mind were breaking, shattering, dying. He’d had no sustenance or rest, he was injured and past the point of exhaustion, riddled with shock and terror.

The smell of fighting disguised his escape from the rage-blind alphas.

He staggered back the way he’d come, towards the gorge, and weakly flopped over the edge onto a rock a body length below him. The landing was jarring and spiked pain through him, but the cooler stone was a blessing to his searing body.

Q slithered off and along, along. He managed to reach the precipice beneath the one he’d nearly been raped on, a wide expanse that led back into forest, he should be able to get down low enough to ford the river somewhere, the falls just behind him.

Growling emerged from the trees, and Q’s everything froze. Seven pairs of gleaming eyes emerged from the gloom, followed by snouts, wolf bodies creeping towards him.

Q stumbled back a step, vision swimming, nearly going down. The wardens had found him; decided they needed to intervene. To be honest, he thought they were a bit fucking late. Q growled a weak snarl, but meaningful, feral. Their own lips lowered, altering their growls to less threatening, just trying to encourage him, coax him back to where they wanted.

Their only omega was bloody and nearly broken, sick and starved, at serious risk. They needed to get him to an alpha, a single one, in time for some alpha care after he’d been subjected to a quick brutal fuck. What happened then wasn’t their problem, as long as they made sure he wasn’t about to die or suffer any injury that permanently damaged him or risked his ability to reproduce.

They edged closer, slowly, trying not to spook him, just corral him back to the safety of an alpha who would be invested in making sure he was safe and healthy.

All Q could see was _threat. Hurt. Pain._

He whine-growled, tripping back, some of the wolves barked at him in warning and panic. The loud noise made Q flinch violently with a snarl to back off, whining a plea to be left alone.

The wolves went anxious and whined, one tried standing tall to back a freezing command, but Q was already running purely on panic. He whined and turned to flee, teetered on his injured leg, saw one of the wolves leaping and flinched in panic.

Sharp scrape of a cliff edge and gravity dropped him for the second time, screaming. Q saw the swirl of water and sky-trees-cliff-water, clenched his eyes shut and hit the water hard enough to black out.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next update should be early next week, also for those wondering the alpha Q meets on the cliff face is a Spooks filched character.  
> Hope you enjoyed and have a good weekend :)


	4. Encounter

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Delivered as promised!  
> Thank you so uber much for the response last chapter! (plus over 100 kudos woo!)
> 
>  **WARNING:** ALL the dub con. Could be seen as straight-up Non con too so better safe than sorry! Also therefore beware the smut and NSFW-ness...
> 
> Enjoy!

[](http://imgur.com/rJ2wYjB)

 

\---

 

Dull aches of pain brought Q back around and he opened fuzzy eyes, everything was swimming in front of him and he coughed. The act of that sent everything burning and Q’s muscles spasmd in panic as he whined, choking up water and down breaths.

He was left panting and dizzy, lightheaded and heavy bodied. He was half in a slowly running river and slumped over a red sandy bank. Beyond he could see dead grass and shrubs, burnt…

The Bad Lands; Death Valley.

He’d got there, but he didn’t have anything left in him to care.

Q struggled, trying to heave himself up the bank a bit to safer ground, cold snapping at him and body screaming in pain. He collapsed in a whimpering heap not two feet from the bank, struggling to breathe, head pounding and throbbing. He felt sick, he couldn’t stop his body shaking, he couldn’t think. Everything was too much to comprehend.

Q lay for several minutes, or maybe hours, before something crunched near him.

“Fucking hell,” there were fast footsteps and Q tried to scrape himself together desperately until hands landed on him and he panicked, thrashing out.

“Hey hey! Shh, Q, Q! Calm down!” Tiredness and pain won out as he collapsed back with a cry, the alpha, the danger bad alpha reached back for him and Q peeled his eyes open to bear his teeth, snarling weakly, trying to push himself away. Alpha had blue eyes, blond hair, older than Q, built like a world of bad.

“What have they done to you?” The words were growled lethally, and Q, though his head fell back to the ground, responded with more panted snarls. “Q, my name’s James Bond, your brother organised me.”

Q _didn’t understand_! How did he know Q’s name, how did he know Mycroft’s plan? Q tried to heave himself away and wailed in pain, warm hands found him, held him still. Q begun to shudder and cry, attempting to maintain his snarl as hands ran over him, assessing him.

He kicked out but only got a gentle hand steadying his ankle in response.

“Shh, easy Q, you’re safe now.”

Q moaned out something that could have been ‘no’ and flumped any vaguely moveable parts of his body around. Muscular arms gripped him and spun him over onto his back, Q thrashed violently, desperately.

“Fuck-shit, Q!” The large alpha grabbed him and held him close, tucked against his bare chest till his convulsions tapered into muscle spasms and gasps of pain, stressed attempts to get air.

“I know, I know, shh, Lobo you’re so hurt.” There was a hand stroking through his hair, and Q didn’t know what to do, didn’t know how to cope. The skin on his was warm, and smelt heady, and he felt so hopelessly ill, couldn’t fight anymore. Instead he panted and shook, kept within the alpha’s arms.

“Q? Can you understand me? Its important that you understand.” Q whimpered instead, mouth open and panting. Blanca he felt so sick. The man caught him when he slumped bonelessly to the side. There was a soft curse nearly lost to his hearing, and then he was being lifted back upright, head cupped, tucked up against the alpha’s chest and beside his throat. The scent was so strong and rising in musk that it overwhelmed him numbly.

A steadying hand slid down from his hair firmly to grip the back of his neck. Q felt his spine quiver and limbs go limp and useless at the pressure. He whined and flexed weakly, but couldn’t raise tension.

“Q, I need you to listen. I can’t put you down, you’re too badly hurt, I’m going to carry you to water. You need to not panic. After you’ve had something to drink, I’m going to claim you-” Q didn’t know why he was being tortured with a narrative and strained in a singular dying fish-like move before crumpling again with pants.

“Shh, you’ll be okay. I wont hurt you. I know you’ve been running, and you’re scared, but it’s going to happen.” Another hand stroked circles onto the small of his back whilst the hand at his neck managed to rub tingling heady feelings into the base of his brain stem. “Just once, then I’ll look after you, keep you safe till your heat. Won’t be long now. Just see it as being over soon even if you can’t get any pleasure from me. Which I will do my best to provide.” Q couldn’t function. He was shaking like a leaf and loosing focus by the second.

He didn’t want to be claimed, but he couldn’t even lift his head up anymore.

The alpha stood, what was his name, had he said? Did it matter?

The lolling motion jolted him into gasping and whining.

“Shh, shh, I know, you can sleep soon.” Q whimpered his way through the walk, unknowing of how long it was, and gagged whenever he smelt the death that coated this place. The alpha continued a smooth pace, and then Q was being lowered and he could smell water.

Had the man said water first or claiming? A childlike fear gripped Q and he squirmed, eyes prickling till tears squeezed out behind his lids. He didn’t want this! He didn’t want to be touched! Where was Mycroft? He wanted Mycroft! He tossed his head but it hurt too, and he wasn’t wearing anything except filth, and he was scared and naked and vulnerable, and not nearly alone enough.

“Easy, you’re alright, here.” He was shifted gently until he was leaning against the alpha’s right shoulder, sobbing in utter fear, fingers flexing for some kind of comfort. A cup was pressed to his lips, and Q was so surprised at the touch of water to his dry mouth that he flinched with shock.

“Shh, small sips, come on.” The cup came back, and tipped a little water in, Q struggled to remember how to swallow for a bit, but was soon gulping down the offerings like the dehydrated omega that he was.

“Good Q, that’s good.” Q sobbed in confusion before he was offered another cup of water. It tasted like heaven, and helped chase the disgusting tastes of blood, bile and mud from his mouth. The alpha took the cup away when Q grew too tired to swallow properly, the water only just starting to settle in his stomach unpleasantly. He managed, in a foolish moment of braveness, to open his eyes, and saw black-blown icy blue staring at him. Q shut his eyes and gulped, wanted to hide but had nowhere. The smooth of a wet cloth over his face had him gasp in a shudder.

“Let me clean you.” It was so gentle and almost a request, yet completely in control, and sent Q’s mind spinning.

Despite himself, and half simply because the offer to be clean sounded so nice, Q found himself nodding.

“Thank you.” The cloth swiped under his eyes, over his cheeks, forehead, around his neck.

He didn’t know how the alpha avoided doing more than making his bruises tingle, until the coolness registered.

“This will hurt.” Came the gentle, almost apologetic warning. Q hissed and tensed up when the cloth traced the back of his head, spikes of pain shooting him there…

And then the alpha was kissing his neck, sucking very gently, and Q forgot how to react to anything.

Q… didn’t understand.

Where was all the violence, was he just waiting? Why didn’t he just take? The alpha smoothed over Q’s skin, cleaning, careful of his numerous painful points and being so tender it was actually unnerving. Combined with the searing but soft kisses and caresses he stroked onto Q’s neck, face and shoulders, the young omega soon felt overwhelmed with sensation and strangely hungry for the gentle touch. _Any_ gentle touch.

He should fight this, it wasn’t what he wanted, was it? But he was always going to be caught and mated, right? Even if he hid in the Bad Lands the wardens would chase him out or other alphas would eventually follow him in. He was too broken to fight them anymore, every shift of his back, head and leg sent ripples of agony through him. And this was the second alpha out of over twenty that had been kind to him…

Did he stand a better chance? As he was; no.

The thought did nothing to make him unafraid.

When the cloth the alpha was using finally slicked back up his legs to reach between Q bunched up with a frightened whine, nearly passing out from the dizzy spell the movement-induced agony caused.

“Shh, Q, try and relax for me. Just for me.” The alpha angled his head and then they were kissing. Or rather, Q was being kissed, because he had no clue how to respond other than reaction. He gasped at the tongue over his lips and squirmed abortively when the alpha slipped inside his mouth, just a little, just exploring.

The tangling tingle of their tongues sent his mind on a ridiculous feedback loop of texture-taste overload that was… _amazing_.

Q didn’t know what to think anymore, and was rapidly loosing track of any remaining faculties, uneasy yet wanton whimpers escaping him whenever they parted enough to draw breath.

“Open your eyes for me.” Q didn’t want to, managed to shake his head. “Q? Can you, please? Are you alright?” The question rankled him; of course he wasn’t bloody alright! He was half dead and about to be raped!

Q wrenched his eyes open foggily to say as much… and saw only concern under the possession and lust… lust for him…

And he wondered, was the protest even true anymore?

“I’m going to take you now-“ Q knotted up again with a whine, and realised that whilst they were kissing the alpha had finished cleaning him… he got a bit scared.

“Just try and breathe, relax for me if you can, that’s all you have to do.” Q, of course, tensed what little he could and slammed his eyes shut. The alpha shifted him easily as a blanket, gentle though he was there was still some pain now Q was going stiff again in places.

Soon enough he was straddling the alpha again, and could feel the blatant arousal he’d been kept away from before. Now he was practically sitting on it, and all his fears flooded back at the same time he felt the wet head of what seemed like a huge cock nudge behind his balls.

“Easy,” the alpha wrapped Q’s arms over his own broad shoulders and balanced the omega on his lap.

When wet fingers began stroking at not only his entrance but his penis, Q felt his brain crash somewhere between panic and the shoots of pleasure that ran up his spine.

Q clung on for all he was worth and whined uneasily with every pant… until those fingers stroking and massaging between his cheeks started to tingle in a way that wasn’t quite ticklish. His heartbeat raced and Q bucked weakly at the warm, rough but wet hand guiding him into an erection. His own whines turned into keens of confusion and sensation, the scent of the alpha’s strong, earthy musk and salty pre come seeped into his brain and fizzled there. Q’s head fell to pant at the nape of the larger man’s neck, where the smell was stronger, couldn’t help it any more than he could prevent the alpha’s re-wetted fingertip from beginning to push inside him.

Q whined through clenched teeth and attempted to move away, but his movements caused more pain than the slightly strange finger-pressure ever had.

It wasn’t like the other alphas, and when he moved away the large fingers let him, though they went back to stroking immediately.

Altogether it was too much, and when the fingers disappeared again, slicking themselves off the alpha’s own cock, Q whined a bit at the coldness left behind. Again, one pushed in and when Q panicked a bit the man just growled gently, soft reprimand in his tone. And Q, despite everything, sat still and let the man’s entire finger slide inside him.

He wiggled on it, feeling strange and vulnerable and somehow owned. There was a chuckle, tinged in rough desire, and the finger wiggled back, inside him.

Q gasped at the mind-numbingly bizarre sensation and let out a drawn out ‘oh’ that morphed into a keen when a rhythmic thrust was set up. He was lost to it.

Panting and limp limbed Q felt more wet pushed into him whenever the finger disappeared completely, and another tease at him, pushing in, and it burned but then the hand on his cock sped up and the alpha nuzzled and nipped at his neck and it only became one part of the myriad of sensations assaulting him. Mirrored by his body’s pain and the tear tracks on his face and the racing of his heart.

Three fingers in and Q felt consumed, stretched, possessed. The hand abandoned his throbbing arousal to support the small of his back. The fingers, when they left to re-wet, had him thrumming and his stretched hole clenching at air.

When the alpha could stretch and twist his fingers inside Q, he withdrew, leaving the omega whimpering and lax.

At the blunt pressure of his cock, Q realised this was it, he was about to be claimed. The thought had no time to even fully form before the alpha was breaching him deep in the most intimate way and stretching him wider than Q could comprehend. He shuddered his way through the slow slide that he just didn’t have muscle power left to stop, simply being taken. There was burn, and then the alpha was biting his neck in a way that should hurt but instead shot pleasure right down his spine from the point of contact… and he was full of the alpha’s cock.

Q panted, impaled, rump resting snugly against the man’s thighs and filled thickly. The alpha’s hands found his wilted cock and he bucked, feeling the penetration in him slide out a bit and squirming at the sensation in mild panic, aware that he was being taken in the most intimate way possible.

The man’s cock snugged back into him with a short thrust and his hand coaxed Q from the front as he set up a slow rhythm.

The slide in and out, lubricated only with the alpha’s seed, consumed his mind entirely, aware of but not focusing on the other pleasure he was gaining until it started hitting too strong. Q went wiggly at the dual sensations and that only made the feel of the man’s cock buried within him seem like a larger, less escapable intrusion that was unbelievably something like a comfort. A final swipe to the head of his cock mixed with a deeper thrust that hit _something_ inside him and Q’s orgasm blindsided him.

He panted with soft shaking vocalisations, and clenched around the cock nestled inside him. The lack of give was as unbelievable as his electric pleasure and the splashing spurt inside him, claiming him, marking him, sent his mind scattering.

When he could next think, albeit blearily, the-his alpha’s cock was sliding from him, still hard, and spurting come over him that the man rubbed into his skin with grunts and meticulous hands.

“S’ your name?” Q slurred, mind slipping and numb to his body.

“James, Bond.” Q let exhaustion take him after that, alpha come leaking out of him and wrapped in a scent-blanket of ‘owned’.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The entrance of one James Bond.  
> I'm very curious (nervous? Probably too much of both xD) about the feedback for this chapter. Hope you all enjoyed anyway!
> 
> Also, **A Brief** ish **Note:**  
>  I decided when writing this that it seemed unlikely that these wolf-human shifters would have the same 'god' and use the same references to such as we would. Thus, instead of swearing to god or using the word in an expression they use the names of Lobo and Blanca (Which we know of from an old wolf-hunter tale, but their existence was not the same in this AU)  
> Lobo and Blanca are archetypes or legends in the same way that HP characters use 'Merlin'  
> The use of one name over the other is usually decided by the gender of the one using the term, and then by the situation (this becomes more obvious next chapter.)  
> For instance, Q has so far and usually will say 'Blanca damn...' or 'good Blanca' because he is an omega and Blanca represents both the female and omega natures of wolves. However, if he's referring to an alpha trait or perhaps simply to an alpha, Q might use 'Lobo' instead, indicative of masculinity/alpha gender. Alphas would do the opposite to Q and Betas have more fluidity, using the two names on a more situational basis.
> 
> That was long, apologies! But will hopefully help any confusion in the conversations of next chapter. :)  
> Hope you enjoyed and see you next time!


	5. Find.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Have some longer chapter and Bond POV!  
> The same warnings for dub/non con apply for this chapter, and continuing smut. So beware!
> 
> Enjoy!

[](http://imgur.com/noxBJ1m)

 

\---

 

Bond, to be honest, hadn’t been thrilled with his latest brief. Sure, he’d been skulking for five years after trying to elope with a treacherous beta called Vesper, and the last two of those years he hadn’t even stayed with-pack.

When he came back fully, having to nearly belly-crawl in front of M’s fury yet holding his ground, things were very different. Practically all the omegas were gone now, something that had only been starting when he was younger. The packs were crippled, M was livid, and there was a very obvious reason why.

M’s short, stout white-silver wolf form paced in the pack-leader cave, snarling and snapping out her fury to Bond’s cream-blonde, much larger body.

“Its inexcusable! Continuing with the run when there is only _one_ fertile omega coming of age between now and six years away! Its murder with all these un-bonded alphas, he’ll be scared out of his wits like that poor creature a couple of years back if he isn’t ripped to shreds in a frenzy!”

Bond grumble-growled in agreement. He thought the runs were a monumentally dim idea even when the number was a 2:1 ratio, let alone 100:1 or whatever it was nowadays.

“Worse, I hear the boy’s intelligent. He’s a Holmes, good lineage and brains to boot.” Bond felt his interest peak a bit. The matriarch of the Holmes family had been infamous as his M had, now dead and in a violent uprising- her sons scattered and dishonoured, as far as he’d been caught up.

“We _cannot_ let it happen. He’s far too valuable to be beaten and bonded and mated off to any old run of the mill alpha. He holds far too much power.” Bond couldn’t help but agree. A singular omega… whichever pack had him would be in a tremendous position of stability…

Similarly, if a weak alpha by chance managed to hold him through his heat then there was a likelihood of bloodshed. Tensions were rising, and no one would let a weak pack hold onto the sole omega when they could breed from him.

Bond growled at the thought of such violence towards   
omegas. They were to be protected as it was, and they were unbelievably precious nowadays.

“Mycroft Holmes has approached me.” Bond looked up sharply, locking their icy eyes together. “He has a plan, thank Blanca, and more than enough influence to pull it off in theory. He may have been too unprepared to save his middle brother but he’s determined not to let the youngest be broken.”

Their eyes met when M stopped pacing again, and there was absoluteness in her gaze.

“He’s asked for our allegiance in protection, in return for his little brother. He’ll give us the power of having the only omega provided we orchestrate suitable mates for him, ones who can keep their heads in a crisis and keep him defended. I don’t think I need to explain to you how tantamount this is, nor how high a prize.”

“I think I’ve grasped it M.” Did he ever. Their pack was strong through talent and loyalty, but not in reproductive value. They had been hit hard and deep by the disease, there were no omegas within the MI6 and MI5 packs. It was a kingly gift, invaluable, and a table turner.

“We need him.”

“Going to turn him into a breeding farm then?” Bond remarked dryly, he had never been particularly fond of archaic rituals, rules and the like.

“Good Blanca no.” M remarked, appalled. “This one’s smart for one, and will probably be damaged after the run no matter how hard we try. We’re also under oath; he’ll be bred, of course, by his mate, but only to their discretion. Pups will be raised in utmost care, as will he. Four or five strong pups will outlast ten weak ones. No, we’re going to use the name of Holmes to wipe out the threat of our enemies and take full control of our mountains.”

He was sure M didn’t plan to go as far as world domination…but the thought seemed to echo in his mind regardless. Besides, you could never really tell with her. Certainly, they could gain a huge amount of territory and wipe out a fair bit of scum with the strength potential of an omega at their back.

“And how are we going to get this wondrous creature in the first place?” Bond asked, one fuzzy brow raised. It would not be easy, that was for sure.

“We’re sending in lone wolves early, in secret, wide scale operation, the viables from Five are going in too, Pierce’s orders. We’ll have a spread of agents prepared to protect Q tooth and nail, and get him somewhere safe for the duration of heat. Mycroft will have Q run for the Bad Lands.” Bond flicked his ears and tail in disbelief.

“He’s an omega M! Coming into his first heat no less, terrified out of his mind… Can he really be expected to head for that sort of scent?”

“I wouldn’t doubt a Holmes’ qualities. Mycroft has assured me that Q will do anything possible to save himself the fate he’s being prescribed, that he’s quick and his mind’s quicker. Even without an omega deficiency I’d be eyeing him up anyway. And we’ll have agents posted around the area too.” M nodded at him.

“I’m putting you in the Bad Lands directly, you can either be back up for any alpha who manages to mate with him or claim him yourself if he gets to you first, or take over if the alpha protecting him is fatally wounded. Orders will be to capture on sight and get him to Death Valley to hunker down for heat. Of course a temporary claim will be necessary for security, nothing would set the wardens onto our plan quicker than the lack of that. Not to mention the other alphas. But we want him to have gone through as few hands as possible. He needs to be mentally competent…”

“Or?” Bond prompted.

“Or when we get him out, whoever gets him out, Mycroft is going to use his extensive network of sleepers to kill his brother’s unsuitable alpha and disappear with him.” Bond stared in open shock at the threat that would pose. M answered his question without blinking.

“No, Bond. I don’t doubt him on those words for a minute.”

Bond had no idea when to expect Q to turn up, if ever, but in the Bad Lands he could hear when things started to truly kick off.

Of course, the mass-howl at the beginning had put both the fear and the chase into him, the near insurmountable odds facing one young omega seemed all too real, and the wolf cursed himself for feeling callous of the youth’s life.

But, he didn’t really want to be bonded, at least not out of his own terms like this.

Of course, chances were that Q would never reach him, but if he did Bond would have to do his duty. Besides, how did he know if he could resist an omega in heat? Training he’d had taught resistance, superior mind-retention when faced with overwhelming situations and aromas… but hearing the battle unfold was something else entirely.

It wasn’t until nearly a full tense day had gone by and after a midnight rain shower that he started hearing screams. They were far away, and clearly an omega, a severely traumatised omega.

Fights and growling snarls wrought the atmosphere and the stench of blood high above him. Bond’s pulse begun to pound. He had no contact with the other agents, no way of knowing if anyone was there with the omega, defending him, or if he was on his own being subjected to the worst experience of his life.

A pack of alphas that big, something like twenty strong, against one omega? The poor kid was either going to be gang-raped or torn to shreds.

Fury spread through him like a disease, at the system, at his own kind, at Mycroft for giving such a task to a terrified and stress-strung omega, at M for drafting the whole thing together.

They should have told the kid to save himself…

But that wasn’t fair was it? This Q shouldn’t have to settle for mating with someone he didn’t want to any more than Bond should. It was cruel of the alpha to think the omega should accept for an abusive rapist simply because biology and society had given him no other choice.

Bond waited, tense, ready to help if he could, but only allowed to assist within the realm of Death Valley in case anyone got wind of their plans. There was silence for hours after the bloody fight, but no mate call had gone up, and neither had a death call. In a run like this, there would always be wardens following the omega, and they would send up the alarm if he were killed. The fighting had come from the cliff heights at the top of the gorge…

If that was true, Q hadn’t been far away.

Cursing himself, and the rules he’d been given, Bond set off, shucking his clothes in favour of running in his fur. He would at least find out if there were omega remains somewhere. The thought clenched his gut, because of course, he’d gone and got invested listening and smelling the progress, and he needed his answers.

It wasn’t long after, that an impossible scent filtered through him over the aged stench of death in the burnt trees. Omega. Of course matching the scent on the scrap of shirt he’d been given, but stronger, weaker, damaged and nearing heat, only a couple of days off at most.

Bond leapt into action, running silently through trees until he happened upon the clearing by the river, transformed, and caught sight of Q.

“Fucking hell.” Next second he was running, falling to his knees in prickly dry grass stubs beside the filthy and beaten body of the omega. A young slip of a svelte thing, and dear Blanca did he smell heavenly under that frantic aroma of hurt.

The moment he laid hands on the young man of course, Q begun to panic in absolute terror.

“Hey hey! Shh, Q, Q! Calm down!” If the sound of his name soothed the omega in any way, it wasn’t apparent. He collapsed moments after his thrashing and cracked open the most gorgeous green eyes Bond had ever seen, marred with stress and fatigue. He watched, wide-eyed in horror and amazement as Q tried even now to push himself up, snarling with desperation. How could any wolf drive another to such a state, regardless of gender, yet especially something so precious as an omega?

“What have they done to you?” Q’s eyes rolled and he fell back to the dead grass, panting his snarls. James tried to tell him who he was, to soothe him with information, and then held him still when he tried to run, assessed him carefully regardless of the occasional kicks out.

His body was a mess, and he panicked whatever Bond said, whatever he did, driven out of his mind with stress and fear, the stench of just how punished his body was strong in the air.

Through the dust and grime Bond could see a foul gash on Q’s right leg running calf to near his ankle ligaments. His head was battered and bruised, blood staining his mouth. There was a sprained looking wrist and ankle, worst of all was the bruising on his back, deep blood red and angry with broken areas, spanning over most of his skin, when Bond managed to turn Q over, he briefly saw more of the same before the omega thrashed out again.

Swearing, he pulled the omega to his chest, held him until the shattered omega was spasming weakly against him, struggling to breathe and severely distressed.

“I know, I know, shh Lobo you’re so hurt.” Bond’s insides curled with agony for the slight creature in his arms. Q had made it all the way here despite all the odds, been battered and hurt and abused, but he’d made it.

You had to be one bloody brave and smart wolf to manage that and still come out fighting at the end of it. He breathed out a huff and stroked Q’s hair, desperate to soothe the wounded omega, chase the scent of pain from his skin.

Respect shot through Bond. He had no reason to be anything but honored to have a mate as exceptional as this young man. The thought of anyone else having him was sickening, especially any of the wolves that had dared hurt him like this. Already Bond could feel protectiveness and possessiveness twining around the omega in his arms.

He would look after Q, and make sure he was safe. He would never let this level of harm befall him again…

But Q wasn’t calming down, simply draining out of strength, and Bond wouldn’t mate him with the omega thinking he’d been raped, the alpha would never be able to live with himself.

He was going to do this right or not at all, and right now Q was a scared young wolf and would reject everything Bond did to him out of respect and protectiveness; he would read it all as abuse and violence and entrapment. The alpha was going to take this slow, and make it count whilst he made Q his.

“Q? Can you understand me? Its important that you understand.” Q took a turn downhill instead and slumped away, scent fracturing into shattered and stretched emotions.

“Shit.” He pulled Q close and into his neck, hoping that his scent might calm the wavering terror, and grasped the back of his neck tightly in a calming scruff.

It panicked Q a little, his uneasy whines growing again. Of course, if the omega was less hurt Bond would try not to be so close and allow Q to warm up to him naturally, but as it stood his body was so damaged that the alpha knew he just had to keep the younger man still and relaxed as possible.

Of course that wouldn’t be easy when it came to claiming Q, but none of that would be, and he had to lay a mark in case anyone else came and tried to remove the omega from him. He’d have to do it… the thought of taking the feisty creature wasn’t too appealing when he was this blatantly terrified, but was delicious when Bond thought about what his body must look like under the grime and bruises, of what it would feel to have someone wholly his in the way Vesper had never been.

“Q, I need you to listen. I can’t put you down, you’re too badly hurt, I’m going to carry you to water. You need to not panic. After you’ve had something to drink, I’m going to claim you-” He was aiming for in-control and calming, but of course Q couldn’t tell good from bad right now and flopped like a dying animal. “Shh, you’ll be okay. I wont hurt you. I know you’ve been running, and you’re scared, but it’s going to happen.”

His hands stroked and soothed Q’s battered body. It was like talking to a feral thing but gradually, with a combination of steady words and strong hands, Q’s body, probably unbeknownst to the omega, begun to open up to a different kind of response to Bond. The scent of delicious lightning sweetness in the air magnified weakly, but undoubtedly, against hurt and sickness.

“Just once, then I’ll look after you, keep you safe till your heat. Won’t be long now. Just see it as being over soon even if you can’t get any pleasure from me. Which I will do my best to provide.” Because he wouldn’t be the only one gaining something from this if it killed him. Even if Q was incapable of attraction, Bond was skilled enough, he would make sure he enjoyed himself as much as possible… show him, teach him… he fought a shiver of anticipation and stood. Q wouldn’t understand any of that though right now, inexperienced as he must be, so Bond just assured him it would all be over soon.

Q was loosing it, and blacked out briefly on him before they reached the spring water pool that was so well hidden amongst the death of these lands.

The young omega panicked again and started to cry in distress, Bond shushed him as best he could, and grabbed the bag he’d left here, not far from the make-shift den, rummaging in it for a cup. Seeing Q cry felt a bit like watching the mighty fall, and Bond vowed to put a stop to it ever happening again once they were mated. Once Q was his.

Water went down well, with some gentle coaxing. The scent of Q seemed to rise in the air with even that small amount of care, and Bond found himself both entranced and exceedingly glad that Q had made it to him and him alone.

Oh, he’d been fingered, quite possibly more, but otherwise was blissfully intact, and Bond would do his best to ensure nothing but good memories from here on out, safety and security. He couldn’t remove Q’s memories of being attacked, but he could give him some positive experiences to think about instead.

Instead of going right to it, which he _should_ do in the interest of both their safety, should have done back by the river, Bond was mesmerised when Q opened his eyes oh so bravely. It didn’t last long, but the need to see those irises smiling at him and clear was all encompassing, and he wanted to do his best to make Q feel he wasn’t just some hole to fuck. Right here, in his arms, was a genuine life, and one that had undoubtedly experienced hell he didn’t deserve. Q needed to know that he was worth more, had earned respect and care, and that James would only too willingly give it.

So he cleaned Q to relax him, hopefully, even going so far as to ask _permission_. Somewhere, M was cursing him.

As soon as Q rewarded him with a nod, Bond could have gladly told M where to stuff her protocol.

“Thank you.” He cleaned, and tried his best to kiss away Q’s pain, distract him from it, give him a bit of damn relief for his broken body and shattered mind to cling to. Q’s scent responded to him even if the little omega was breathing unsteadily in tumbled emotions, confusion and fear battling for predominance. The omega’s scent was alluring enough even without Bond being able to see Q’s body.

His skin was scratched and mottled with bruises but pale and creamy, he was thin and long-limbed and under all that grit his hair looked gorgeous, elegant hands and fingers, slender hips, smaller genitals than Bond was used to seeing, but that made sense, really, and was quite enticing in appearance. Q’s face was made of gorgeous features, the lines of his body graceful…

Bond was already hooked on drinking in the sight, and made sure to keep a careful distance between his rapidly growing arousal and Q’s thigh lest he frighten the omega off before it was even an issue.

As it was, all Bond’s hard work was very nearly undone when he tried to clean between Q’s legs.

So Bond resorted to an age-old tactic: distraction, and leant in to capture Q’s mouth.

The omega’s lips melted under his own, dry and chapped but soft. The alpha didn’t go in hard, the sensations of what Bond was doing were no doubt overwhelming the younger’s inexperienced body enough as it was, but under the guise of their slow dance of tongues and lips he managed to gently clean Q off without any further issues.

Not to mention, kissing Q was empowering. There was something unique and untamed about him, fey and untempered yet wholly exhilarating and sensual… Not in technique, not that Bond would expect that, but simply in touch, taste and nature. The alpha wanted to bury himself into Q’s skin and never let go.

Q wasn’t all out petrified anymore, but he was clearly struggling. At least he responded to questions now though, as he shook his head in response to Bond’s request to open his eyes.

For a moment, he worried that he’d hurt Q, that he’d pressed the rib-cracking bruise on his back or the nasty head wound, or something he couldn’t even see. More than anything, he needed to make sure that Q was following the same scent trail, and that regardless of experience and desire, he knew what was about to happen. That was important, he wouldn’t spring this on Q… not that the omega had too much choice… not that either of them really did.

Q’s eyes were foggy and confused, but their anger faded on something in Bond’s gaze, widened, pupils dilating slightly. Whether or not Q knew it, he was interested.

“I’m going to take you now-“ Q predictably froze at the finality in Bond’s voice. “Just try and breathe, relax for me if you can, that’s all you have to do.” He coaxed with calm authority, and maneuvered into position before Q could tense too much and set them back paces.

It only took a few well-placed strokes to Q’s limp penis and puckered entrance before the omega was whining and panting against him. Unease turned into slightly overwhelmed keens.

Bond, enjoying the obvious pleasure he was giving Q, and fighting hard with his own stamina, thoroughly enjoyed licking stripes of pleasure onto Q with his hands and stroking fingers. He used his own rather copious pre come to wet Q as much as he could in the situation, regretting that Q was a couple of days shy of mature enough to produce his own slick, but at least their next go at this would be a whole lot easier and more pleasurable for both of them.

Q had a minor panic both times Bond tried to breach his loosened entrance, whining in anxiety that was painful to hear. Bond let him have a reprieval, and only gently chastised the young man on his second attempt. Worked a charm, and Bond’s finger slid into an almost painfully tight heat.

Lobo but it felt good. His mouth watered at the thought of how Q would feel around his cock, and even better when he was slick-wet from heat.

Q turned out to be a curious, playful sort of creature, and rather delightfully gave an experimental wiggle around the intrusion within him.

_First time_. Bond’s mind crowed with a rush of affection and satisfaction, possession. He would be Bond’s.

The alpha laughed at the sweet movement, his voice straining slightly in arousal, want, and he rewarded the behaviour with a waggle back inside the omega. Q reacted quite deliciously with a soft moan and instinctive keen when Bond set up a thrusting rhythm, curling his finger to stretch Q out for a second.

He re-lubricated regularly against his own aching cock. The second finger evidently burned but Bond worked Q’s arousal and smothered his neck in expert ministrations. Soon he had three fingers inside Q and had him stretched enough that his hole gaped a little and clenched greedily for more attention. Bond would be lucky to stimulate his prostate before heat, but he didn’t need to rely on that.

The lithe creature whimpering for him went straight to Bond’s leaking cock and before he could hold himself back or Q could summon any strength to clench up, he was pushing inside that impossible tight heat and breaching Q deeply.

Q was wrapped around him and unresisting and bitten and _his_. Bond felt the tight clench around him and the shiver of Q’s body at his bite, the knowledge that he was owning Q, touching him in a way that nobody had or would, was utterly undoing.

Q was full, filled up with Bond. Of course he could in no way take a knot before he’d had a heat, but Bond would mark him inside regardless.

The omega panted and bucked into his ministrations when Bond’s large hand closed around his penis, he wondered if Q had ever orgasmed before, and doubted it. All this was just for him.

The feel of his cock moving out panicked Q a bit and sent him squirming until Bond joined them fully again, burying himself balls deep whilst he could into that heat.

Mindlessly Q responded to the dual sensations as Bond rolled into him, relishing the feeling of the young man against him, around him, the friction and heat, just a bit tough without natural lubrication. His knot formed swiftly, limiting how deep he could go without hurting Q.

The omega’s little panting breaths sped up as he begun wriggling and Bond knew he was close, switching his thrusts to longer, compensating for depth, he fondled the head of Q’s spilling cock and felt him convulse in orgasm.

The feeling of clenching around his cock combined with Q’s soft mewls triggered Bond’s own reaction, and he could have howled for the spurts of his come marking Q as his deep inside.

Knowing he’d be stiff for some time, and not wanting to hurt Q or risk sticking, James slid out and pumped his spend over the omega’s skin instead, one hand supporting and smoothing his scent into pale skin whilst the other worked his knot.

By the time his Q, _his_ , had come back from his ecstasy, Bond was caressing himself into the young man, claiming him inside and out with a deep satiation stronger than anything he’d felt before.

“S’ your name?” Q slurred, clearly going under pretty swiftly, something James was only too happy to encourage.

“James, Bond.” Q dazed out, finally completely lax against him, and Bond kissed his neck with reverence. “I’ve got you, Q. My Q.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As a side-note I'm very fond of the illustration for this chapter. Its a new one, (realised I didn't have one for this chapter, whoops!) and drawing M was fun, and the background was easy for once O.o for better or worse!
> 
> Also ironically (possibly?) this time last year (also whilst watching the Eurovision as I am now...) in my other story it was Mycroft meeting Q who was already mated with Bond... this feels like some sort of reversal somehow!
> 
> Hope you're all having a good weekend and enjoyed the Bond side of things, and I'll see you at some point mid-next week with the next chapter! :3


	6. Heat.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this is a bit late guys, work has been almost hilariously cataclysmic this week and times they are a changing!  
> I shall endeavour to put the next chapter up quite quickly to make up for the delay n_n
> 
>  **WARNING:** Well just a heap of smut and heats continues! So, um nsfw?

[](http://imgur.com/OlGNglR)

 

\---

 

Bond was elbows deep in taking care of Q. The omega had fallen into a deep sleep after the alpha had claimed him and he hadn’t woken up since. Which was something of a relief because his injuries were extensive, and Bond wouldn’t wish anyone to be awake enough to feel that level of pain.

He didn’t even know if Q would remember much, the head wounds he’d sustained were nasty, but he hoped that their temporary claim would bind Q to him sufficiently enough that the young wolf wouldn’t panic upon waking to find himself with an alpha.

Opportunistically Bond got started on treating the most painful of Q’s injuries whilst he was unconscious. The more the alpha cleaned and fixed his body, the more broken it looked.

Q was lucky to be alive.

The alpha had set a fire long enough to heat some water, hoping the scrub tree cover dissipated the smoke enough to hide their presence. Having sneaked into No Man’s Land ahead of time, Bond had brought supplies with him. Medicine, resources enough to make a suitable den to house a heat-struck omega in, M had been meticulous in her planning. 

After cleaning and applying a poultice to kill infection Bond used needle and thread to sew Q’s calf wound. Cuts were cleaned and bruises balmed, he bandaged Q’s ribs, wrist and ankle for support, tended to the bash at the base of his skull and washed his matted hair gently, bathing the omega’s body in the warm water till he was properly clean.

Brushing out Q’s hair took the best part of the afternoon, but it was by far Bond’s favorite ministration. By the time he could run the comb without resistance through the whorls of dark hair it had begun to wave gorgeously. With Q’s head resting on his lap for the activity, Bond was at leisure to caress and pet to his heart’s content… and the procedure was terrifyingly ingratiating; grooming his omega, his mate…

At least, that would be the case when Q’s heat struck; it was building all the time now. The scent was unparalleled to anything Bond had scented before, Q’s body heat creeping upwards by increments. Occasionally his body would begin shaking, trembling at the change going on inside it.

By Bond’s calculation it would strike either tomorrow night or the morning after, best if Q slept whilst he could.

The wolf did, however, have to get food and water down him, or Q simply wouldn’t be strong enough to make it through the taxes of his heat.

He had laid Q on his stomach on the padded pile of furs in the den and covered him with a woven blanket. The omega’s chest was bruised, but not as badly as his back, which was angry, extensive, and probably hurt to even be looked at. Bond had no idea what had caused it, though it had to be a heavy pressure, likewise he didn’t know what half of Q’s other wounds came from. Except one, the slice to his calf was a knife wound, which meant somebody had cut him.

The very thought filled Bond’s marrow with rage.

Shaking the thought away for later, when Q was safe and sated of his heat, the alpha crossed over and wrapped a hand onto the clearest area of the omega’s shoulders, gripping him there to wake him calmly rather than shake him. If necessary, if Q panicked, he would be able to quickly switch the grip to the back of Q’s neck and scruff him to be limp.

“Q? Can you wake up for me?” There was a furrow of brows, eyelids flickering, a slight unf-ing whine at waking. Bond’s expression tightened, Q had to be in pain, but he needed to drink.

“I need you to drink something and eat. Come on gorgeous.” The flattering name slipped out, and Bond hoped Q either didn’t notice or mind.

It took a good few minutes for Q to come round instead of drift between waking and unconsciousness. Finally, his eyes were meandering to open half-way, breathing fractured in pain, weak noises of discomfort marring the air.

“Shh, that’s it, you’re alright. Good Q.” James could tell that Q wasn’t wholly there, and resolved to get him back to sleep before he could panic. Right now, half aware, Bond’s scent would be more comfort instinctually than it would seem if Q could process the thought beyond familiarity and protection.

He slipped a hand gently beneath Q’s head and tilted it up off the pillow till Q could drink down the sips Bond allowed to reach his lips. It was a slow, painstaking process, and Q was left shaking at the end. Before he could slip under again Bond hurriedly grabbed some of the cured energy-rich meat he’d been supplied with, and broke off some to chew hurriedly into an easier to manage mush.

Sliding down beside Q, Bond pressed their mouths together, incurring a startled yelp till he pushed the food into Q’s mouth. Opening his eyes, he met Q’s hazy-greens with surprise.

“Swallow, Q, its alright.” After a moment of flickering eyes, Q did, whimpering out an uneasy kind of growl that was to be understood, but hurt a little when all he was doing was offering food.

“Shh,” Bond reprimanded quietly, and bit off more meat to chew, reminding himself that Q was in an appalling state and in a terribly vulnerable condition. James himself would have been snapping. Once he’d chewed down the meat he leant to part Q’s mouth again, pushing food in despite the growl rumbling from his omega’s throat.

Being fed was intimate, and Q had no way of fighting back. He also had no other way of eating.

The growling lessened by increments, becoming part of a breath out rather than constant. Bond fed him patiently, greeting the increased tolerance as Q warming up very slightly… and also a sign of him slipping back into unconsciousness.

Q hadn’t managed much food, but at least he _had_ eaten. Bond washed the meat down with some more water till the omega ceased to swallow effectively and then carefully pulled the blanket around him more securely. It didn’t take long for the slip of a wolf to fall back asleep. Bond stroked his hair for a bit with a sigh, wondering whether Q would be permanently scared of all alphas, including James, despite his best efforts.

Over the afternoon and evening he alternated keeping watch outside the den and returning frequently to check on Q, he couldn’t help it. Some of the immediate danger had left his scent, gradually diluted with heat, but he still had a calling card of distress lapping over his skin. He woke Q every now and then for water, coaxing the omega awake took anywhere from two to ten minutes.

At dusk, he tried Q again with food, prepared to wake up throughout the night for both safety and the omega’s health.

He went through the familiar routine of gripping Q’s shoulder rather than shaking him, and felt him rise a bit faster this time, eyelids flickering and working to open.

“Hey there, can you eat some more for me?” Q’s eyes fluttered open and he flinched a bit with a gasp, face frowning in pain with a whine. Bond’s hand found the back of his pale throat instinctually, squeezing gently to still the young omega whilst Q whimpered.

“Easy, I know it hurts, try and breathe through it.” He was surprised and pleased when Q complied in response, breaths whining slightly. “That’s good Q, you’re doing fine.” He stroked a circle into the pale neck beneath him with a thumb and prepared a cup of water.

“Can you drink for me?” When he lifted Q’s head up the omega didn’t hesitate to drink, though his fingers were tensing slightly in pain. Bond set him down swiftly, seeing him have difficulty breathing. “Here, here let me turn you, shh, shh.”

He stayed outside the blanket and supported Q on his side, the small body flopping tiredly onto his own, they were close enough to be breathing the same air, which thankfully passed easier into the omega’s lungs for a while.

“Shh.” He hushed again softly, forehead resting against Q’s, watching the delicate features crease in pain. He didn’t have any painkillers that were suitable other than the balms he’d already applied, and omegas were sensitive to medication as it was. They were fairly tough though, in their own respect. The alpha was still biting down his anger that so much had befallen Q in the first place, and his mind wouldn’t stop picturing what could have happened to cause the injuries.

After a while he shifted enough to separate more meat and chew it, hoping for a better reaction this time since Q wasn’t attempting to fight him off in favor of panting softly. Once the meat was more of a paste than anything Bond pressed their lips together, Q’s already parted.

At the motion Q shocked James by shifting forwards incrementally to meet him. The alpha was stunned for a moment as Q’s tongue even met his in the act of stealing the food from his mouth. James watched him swallow it down and chase after his currently empty lips. Getting his act together he hurriedly chewed more food whilst Q whined a bit in confused plea. When they met again the omega didn’t waste time. Q licked the food greedily from Bond’s mouth with single-minded focus.

The alpha let himself be stunned by and enjoy Q’s inexpert ministrations. The act was sensual, and unbeknownst to the omega, was only heightening the scent of heat in the den.

The young wolf didn’t seem keen on releasing Bond’s mouth until he had lapped and licked all the taste from his tongue. Q whined a little after finding no more trace, tongue still searching the alpha’s lips and lapping there in appeasement for more, impatient and askance.

Chuckling to himself and trying to subtly shift away enough to hide his growing erection, Bond gathered and chewed more meat.

Q fed until he couldn’t anymore, and James helped him gulp down some water before easing the omega back against him. Panting and shifting occasionally in pain, Q let himself be settled but admitted a whimpering whine of discomfort.

“Shh, I know.” Bond soothed, and ran a hand through Q’s dark hair; thumb rubbing circles behind the shell of an ear. Slowly the omega slipped back down into sleep, inadvertently trapping Bond as a support for his own body. “There’s my gorgeous thing.” Bond kissed the smaller man’s forehead and settled in a bit more comfortably to stay where he was until Q needed to move again.

The bruised muscles were going to be horrifically stiff and painful. Really Q needed a good long soak in warm water, but that was hardly practical at present. Nor could Bond massage him without inflicting more pain…

Add on the stress that heat wracked on the body, and Q was going to be struggling. James needed to get him through the massive energy expenditure and bodily exhaustion as safely as possible. It wouldn’t be easy when Q was already so beaten.

But James was beyond committed, now.

-00Q00-

Q was struggling to understand what the hell was making him so hot. He couldn’t think, blinded by it. It made him want to squirm restlessly to find comfort but every time he tried pain flared and there was a swift hand clamped onto the back of his neck that rendered him limp and whimpering.

He wasn’t blind enough to not notice the alpha… but sometimes there was water and food pressed to his lips, administered because Q couldn’t even hope to move, vulnerable and entirely reliant on the good will of the other wolf.

There was so much aching, thrumming pain… so much aching and thrumming down his spine and lower that wasn’t quite pain but hurt like need. And Blanca he was so hot.

Q struck out at the only thin blanket covering him and gave a soft cry of pain.

“Shh shh. Easy now.” Q panted and keened in distress. His body was shaking and racing and his head clouding and he felt sick.

Somewhere in the back of his fragmented mind something told him to try and run away. A whole lot more of his mind was just thinking ‘ _get him to help you!_ ’ Q didn’t know what to do, he couldn’t think of anything except how fucking weird and ill he felt, loose and shaky and constantly swimming in and out of consciousness.

Through it all, only pain, heat, thrumming and the alpha were constant. And only one of those was even vaguely comforting.

Coolness on his head and neck woke Q next, he woke up panting fast and harsh, skin on fire from his very core and his legs trembling… things didn’t feel normal.

“You’re alright, I’ve got you.” Q whined and collapsed, muscles protesting, his back was agony. Q thought he was going to die; there was no way he could stand this for even one more minute.

“I-I h-a” Everything swam and blacked as his body burned and some indescernable noise of distress wrenched from his throat instead of words.

Some shift in motion blinded him with pain until he was pressed against smooth, muscled skin. Somehow, though the warmth was noticeable, it didn’t make him feel hotter.

Strong hands guided him until Q’s head flopped weakly into the softer skin of a neck. His pants brought in the scent of _safe-safe-safe-home-mine-please-yours_. Q mewled at the blanket of sanity and comfort that scent and body offered and clawed closer despite understanding what was happening and feel stirrings of fret, fear, panic.

He was in heat, nearly in heat? Blanca he didn’t even know. His groin tingled and between his legs thrummed.

The alpha-James Bond-being cleaned-being bitten-being taken-being fed-being soothed-being everything-being nothing… Q’s mind spun as he panted in doping scent and tried to think, but instead everything pulsed within him and with a little cry blackness was dragging him down again, worried alpha tones trying to coax him back.

Next when he woke it was dark and he was alone and wet with sweat and what he knew to be slick. The feeling struck fear into him at the knowledge that this whole thing wasn’t some Blanca-awful charade. He was what everyone had said and insinuated; an omega going into his fist heat and wetting up for an alpha…

And he was paralyzed with fear because there was nothing he could do now; there was no fighting this any more than he could stop his stomach digesting food. Q was completely without control of his body.

Good Blanca he was terrified… and alone. Fuck.

Q thrashed and yelped at the pain that caused, scared and hurt and mincemeat for alphas because _where the fucking hell was James_ -

“Q! Q, calm down, easy, easy.” That large hand gripped under the back of his neck and teeth clamped onto his neck groundingly and Q went limp in relief and nausea.

Blanca he was afraid.

Sleeping like the dead seemed harder to come around from in the morning. Q was quivering, and had the consuming sensation of ‘this is it’ everything felt _different_ , his body strung out and splayed and flexing unrestingly, that thrumming need spread all through him and heat pooled around his groin and entrance, spreading.

Sniffing brought the scent of alpha. The smell triggered his dormant body into a full-scale electrocution of reaction. Q’s brain blinded and he knew he needed and keened, hips raising, erection hanging swollen between quivering thighs. There were steps and a gasp. Q looked up, needed to know, to see, to coerce, and met blinding blue eyes as his alpha, _his his his please his_ , leant down and bumped heads together, hand splaying over Q’s shoulders with burning heat that broke the final trip wire and set electric fire to his nerves that jolted down his body with a pleading whine and gasp.

Q raised his hips further, reacting, needing that touch elsewhere, ready to burst apart.

“Please-“ His beg was cut off with a growl and the alpha was behind him, holding his hips up, and then that familiar cock was pushing into him and it was _so much so right_ that sparks shot up Q’s spine and he cried out whilst bucking back. That was apparently all the incentive needed because next second James rammed home and sent Q’s mind and body flailing as he thrust in and out hard enough to make Q wail and see stars. The omega grappled for a handhold, legs shaking out and held upright at the hips only by James and the long, thick cock plunging inside him.

Q felt utterly full, felt the power of James’ hands and thighs as his pain was blanketed by pure pleasure, felt how hard his alpha was having to thrust in and out of him because he barely fit.

Writhing and arching Q moaned and heard praises, growls, the pleasure built with each thrust until Q was seeing stars and practically bent in half when convulsions shook him. Amidst the ecstatic haze James was grunting and thrusting in short and sharp, a myriad of pleasure as the cock rammed up him started to swell and Q mewled and whined and writhed around it because it was _too good too much too full too big_!

Wordless, mindless pleasure grabbed and bit at him in unison with James and left him gasping and jerking desperately, mouth open in silent euphoria of too much and eyes pinched shut, legs skittering out and oh Blanca he could feel himself getting full, feel the hot spurt of seed inside him and pulse of knot and cock forcing him to take it and keep it in, hold it.

It was the final tight pressure inside him that just kept coming relentlessly until Q was sure he would burst if it kept going, or if he moved. James shifted them down, growling possessively, curled around and helping Q position his legs when the young omega squirmed at the tug of cock inside him and the shift when so full.

His neck sparked pleasure as much as his spine and James kissed and sucked and licked till all Q was was taken and full and James’ and all he knew was his mate around him and in him, completing him, claiming him, filling him…

Q managed to spare a single sane thought to realize that he was mated, but all his body and brain could tell him was that it felt bloody brilliant.

For the first time in weeks, his heart and soul calmed. Because he knew, without a shadow of a doubt, that this mad blonde and blue alpha around and inside him would not be letting him get harmed. Though how he knew and how he could trust that thought was another matter he couldn’t understand or focus on right now.

Warm and sleepy and a little overwhelmed, stuffed full and filling ever more, Q dropped off into a previously unknown, almost drug like sleep of yes. The scent of his alpha all around him and feel within him coating his brain in licks until all he knew was rest, safety and satiation.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well this is just going to continue in next chapter ':D I didn't really realise when writing this just how many smut chapters were going to end up happening! I feel kinda bad about it in a weird way, but the plot shall returneth, fret not!
> 
> Hehe anyway hope you enjoyed? And thanks so so much for all the support so far! Its a big boost, because since most of this was written many moons ago, I'm not sure whether it all just works for me because I've read the whole picture already, so thank you!  
> See you in not too many days :3


	7. Bond.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Our smutiness survey seems to be producing positive feedback, so enjoy some more!  
> Warnings continue, as things really start to take a toll on Q.

[](http://imgur.com/PwmxYSz)

 

\---

 

James may have ended up bruising Q further throughout their first coupling. He couldn’t help but clutch the smaller wolf to him tightly until they untied. Even in sleep Q whined at the feel of the alpha slipping free from him, heat beginning to crank back up.

“You’re going to be the death of me.” James murmured, feeling himself arch and respond to the scent of heat, bodies sliding together deliciously, slick from sweat…

And more.

James took a deep sniff and savored the unique scent of Q. He knew he should be getting more water into the young omega, maybe some food, but he needed to touch.

Sitting up James lifted one of Q’s legs, still careful, and ducked to sniff at where they’d joined, lick Q’s soon quivering thighs, bite the soft flesh till it trembled and the younger wolf begun to wet again.

Their mixed scent was fresh and new yet deep as the roots of trees in the mountain and complex like all the minerals in a stream. Something primal overtook him, that part of the wolf that he often held back when not defending his pack. The alpha licked harder at Q, tasting him, hearing his young mate whine pleadingly, legs spreading of their own accord.

Hands slipped down deer-like limbs and his mouth followed, licking and biting and claiming everywhere he could on Q’s body without hurting him. The tender backs of knees, the toned rise of calf, his un-twisted ankle and the heels and toes of feet… Bond tasted and kissed and bit at everywhere he could reach, leaving little bite impressions behind that stood out proudly on pale skin. Q’s lithe body was finely muscled and built for speed, agility. James steadily covered it with his own marks.

Bruises on Q’s back and chest were avoided, but James hungrily sucked at his flat belly and nipped at the buds of nipples, collar bone, all the way up Q’s shoulders and long, elegant throat.

He became aware of his own growling and Q’s near constant keen as he found lips and silenced them both briefly. His hands sought thick hair feverishly and he tore from swollen lips to inhale and rub into Q’s soft curls.

Beneath him Q was a mess, writhing and panting again as his heat crashed through with another wave and the long line of his back arched up into James with a little cry.

Bond manhandled Q how he wanted him, lifting one long leg out the way to settle in between. His arms came to cradle under Q’s waist and shoulders and he lifted the omega into joining with him, shuddering as he buried again in that wet clench, the heat undoing as Q gasped and clung to him.

It was maddeningly pleasing, Q’s arousal only heightening his own a he thrust hurriedly.

There might be time for finesse later, but heats affected alphas just as much as omegas. He became almost mindless and blinded by the ecstatic feeling of driving into Q, the flutters of muscle around him and Q’s increasing cries. His knot started catching deliciously on the omega’s rim before with a shout he pulled them flush together and jerked shortly as Q’s quick gasps turned to nothing short of a wail and their bodies convulsed together.

James crowded Q close to him and caged him in with limbs, delighting in their joining almost ferally, knowing that Q couldn’t get away whilst the human part of his mind hoped that the younger man wouldn’t want to.

Still, the feeling of spilling inside Q unencumbered was nearly too satisfying and pleasing to take, left him growling and teasing Q’s neck with his teeth.

Q, for his part, was so exhausted that he’d barely woken up throughout the whole thing, body able to react instinctively whilst he couldn’t completely spare the energy to come to.

When they untied, Bond forced himself to move and get water.

He’d tried to stock enough in their den whilst Q was in pre-heat so that he wouldn’t have to go very far. Even moving from the piles of fur and blankets set his teeth on edge and he crawled back quickly, nuzzling the younger man as if he’d come close to losing him.

Rousing Q to drink was tougher than imagined, because the instant he woke enough to move he was trying to grab for Bond blindly.

“No, Q, come on. Drink first.” Q was impressively wriggly and flexible, managing to slip his way out of any hold James got on him in order to get closer to his goal of the alpha’s cock. He looked so damn adorable doing it that James nearly let him have his way, but eventually had to grip his neck and send him stilling and whining.

Taking the opportunity James hastily got a decent amount of water and food into Q before they were both blinded by another rising wave of heat and Q was practically sobbing to be touched.

Three waves in five hours.

It was a lot. And only the first day.

James pinned Q quickly and pumped into him fast as he could, working Q’s cock whilst he still had the sense to do so and forcing him into wailing completion, twice when he knotted, hoping that his young lover could then sleep for a while.

-00Q00-

When the waves did come, they were crippling for Q. He could feel himself shaking to the core and sweating, slicking, barely able to coordinate limbs to move.

By night, which he only knew he had lived to because his eyes managed to pry open briefly, he was barely able to move.

He didn’t close his legs anymore, and barely moved when another boiling wave of intense need gripped his body and left him limp. He whined and James was there, the alpha not wasting precious time as he pulled Q up and back enough to thrust in.

Q managed to peel open his eyelids, already slightly better for having a cock inside him. It might have made him feel sick with himself if not for the calm tone from James.

He had only vague awareness, but his throat wasn’t dry and he could taste that meat… it didn’t taste as good as the alpha.

“You’re doing great Q.” He couldn’t help laughing weakly at the pep talk, even as he bucked back into the gentle rhythm set up. It was a bit cooler, so he could think a bit clearer, enough to note the ridiculousness of the situation.

“Oi, don’t laugh at me you little minx.” The smile in James’ voice was like honey to his ears and he managed a smile at the slow drag of thick cock out of him, humming in satisfaction and chasing it with a little bump of hips.

James felt gorgeously big all around him, muscled arms framing Q’s head as the alpha blanketed him carefully, nosing into his hair.

It was slow, sweet, something Q would have thought impossible a day ago but was now driven to affection by.

They’d knotted seven times already, and as James started to swell again Q rose to meet him and keep him growing inside. He’d come to adore that feeling in particular of just being stretched and filled and locked to the alpha with the confident grip but caring hands and cock to die for…

Q wasn’t sure if it was the heat, the hormones from their burgeoning mating bond, or himself… but everything for a moment felt exquisite.

Even the spurt of seed inside him, a distinctly bizarre feeling that never failed to make him have to wriggle, just added to his delight and kept a silly, satiated smile on his face.

“Come on Q, your turn.” It was a jolt of pleasure when a large, warm hand closed around his still-hard penis. Q hadn’t forgotten exactly, but he’d been distractedly humping into the pile of wonderfully messy fur beneath him.

Now James fondled the head as if he was a plaything and it sent his legs wriggling and the movement tugged their joining and soon he was jerking with pleasure and spilling all over the large hand that just kept petting.

When it moved away Q whined and fought his eyes open to see the blurry image of his blonde alpha licking at his hand curiously.

“You taste good.” He murmured appreciatively. Something in Q’s mind short-circuited at the idea of an alpha tasting _his_ spend, omega spend –usually remarked as worthless- and deeming it worth a taste. And a good taste no less. With a soft desperate noise Q spun as best he could and grabbed until James moved down to his level and Q could kiss him. Inexpertly and messily and tasting himself there -which was odd- but entirely worth it.

He started dozing at the feel of the alpha’s tongue on his own, growing less responsive, and soon kisses were peppering his hair and face and he was drifting down to sleep feeling for the first time as if sex wasn’t about his gender.

-00Q00-

After about 36 hours of heat, Q wasn’t having fun anymore. It had become a desperate need deep in his bones that couldn’t be satisfied with anything less than having James in him, all the time.

Every time the alpha slipped free his heat would ratchet back up and leave him whimpering, burning, blind to everything else.

On top of the heat his body was aching non-stop from injury. His throat was dry even though James kept him watered each time they knotted.

He was dizzy and could barely move even to respond, though thrashed in base need if he wasn’t penetrated. His legs and thighs were a mess, and now he was just gaping and open, his sopping hole just begging to be filled.

It was sore, but the desire and pleasure raged and warred with the dual sensations.

Q was exhausted from it. It was harder to focus through their couplings.

Q woke to something like midnight empty and aching and whining at the fuzzy shape of James who was wiping him with a cloth.

The wet material made him shiver and twist as endless need whipped through him like a thunderstorm.

“Shh Q, shh, I’ve got you, easy.” The words were fuzzy and Q cried out when moved but then the long slide of cock in him was distracting. He tried to clench around James, attempted to buck for speed but couldn’t. But he needed to feel James knot him so badly.

The sound was wet and slapping and James’ hands tried to soothe his frantic bucks.

Even with James inside him the heat doubled and Q wailed, clenching his fists. The alpha muttered something that might be a curse and started pounding into him rough and hard.

It hurt.

Not his impossibly greedy entrance but his entire shaking body.

Some agonized mixture of cries and moans escaped him and James soothed him best he could but it was too much, not enough.

Even the swell of knot didn’t feel quite as big against his stretched hole and Q sobbed, unable to reach a threshold no matter how hard he threw his broken body back against James’ solid one.

“Fuck, Q.” The alpha took hold of Q’s hips and _ground_ in circles into him. Q was sent mewling and when James’ teeth latched down sharply on his neck came with a weak sob, spattering the dirty and matted furs beneath him and struggling to get away from the wet.

“Shh, you’re alright, you’re alright.” James rolled them till Q was slumped on muscled chest, body shivering and absently panting in the alpha’s scent or sucking and kissing at his sweat-stained chest until he dropped off to the feel of a hand in his hair.

-00Q00-

When Q next woke properly it was to the feel of a knot inside him and for a moment he panicked blindly at the slip in time and consciousness, squirming to get away and earning dual yelps from both himself and James. The pull _burned_ and Q felt hot and sick and the pressure in his too-sore arse made him choke on a cry and jerk away to free himself.

“Easy, Q! Careful, hey, where are you going?”

James’ hands on his hips stilled him until Q could gather his breath, fragmented and tear-struck though it was. He felt frighteningly weak and shaky, almost wrung out and yet burning and nauseated.

“Hurts,” He managed, in a voice he barely recognized as his own.

“I know, I know, not much longer.” At his ensuing sob large hands rubbed over his arms, hair and aching lower back until some of the pain ebbed enough for him to fall back into a half sleep.

-00Q00-

It didn’t get more comfortable for poor Q.

He was now soaked, exhausted and his body was struggling between maintaining heat and the injuries the omega had sustained. It was all James could do to either calm him or get him off with each heat wave. And it should be so much easier than this, it should be natural and enjoyable and bonding in a pleasant way, not through the solidarity of shared pain.

But the Run had done terrible things to Q’s body and despite James’ near constant, and sleepless, attention and care he just couldn’t get comfortable or relax. Q could barely heal and was running on empty.

James wasn’t doing much better.

It was damn _hard_ work and harder to see his younger mate suffering so much. As their mate bond developed and solidified so did James’ natural attachment, and his agony at Q’s constant distress.

There were brief moments of joy amidst the horror. Q’s laugh had given him hope. The growing ease the omega had around him, despite the fact that Q was too weak to really talk, was something that soothed _him_. He didn’t want Q to see him as an ensnaring monster.

His thoughts occasionally swung to how the Run was progressing, and how his comrades were faring, but mostly he tended to Q and caught sleep when he dared.

The omega wasn’t intentionally demanding, and Bond didn’t mind him being just that right now, but he was also wary of attack. And just how defenseless Q was without him. Or worse; potentially unresisting of anyone with a knot.

Though he’d done marvelously so far.

He was barely able to believe how well Q had done.

The omega was asleep for the moment. His heat was finally, thankfully wearing to a close. James had him set up in a complicated prop on his slightly spread legs, attempting to brace Q in the air to ease the pressure on his back and chest. The omega’s breathing had started to turn especially troubled with all the stress on his body.

At some point the weak arms had come to wind around his waist, nuzzling into his reclined stomach and panting raggedly. The increasing frequency of fingers gripping at his spine let James know the omega was approaching another wave. Of course, his nose told him that too.

Taking another gulp of water that they both sorely needed, James ran his hand constantly through Q’s hair, enjoying the feel of the cooler nighttime air and hoping that the heat would wind down sometime tomorrow evening.

-00Q00-

Q was pretty much non-responsive for the last day of his heat. Waking with slurred moans and occasional calls of James’ name. The alpha was swift to attend to him, but he was also getting sore and tired. The meat supply was nearly depleted, and Q could barely manage swallowing any without crying. He must be exhausted.

James could smell as much.

A few frustrating and barely satisfying shags later and Q’s heat trickled out of his body with a whimper and flinch at the feel of James’ knot at twilight.

“Shh, all done now. All over. You’ve done good Q, so good.” James panted, voice slurring with exhaustion. He slumped down beside the barely conscious Q, wrapped limbs around him and fell into a deep sleep with just the far—off stars looking down at them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm very glad people have been finding Bond well so far, and hopefully that will continue as the story starts to re-plotify And thank you all very much for the comments and kudosing, you guys are always a great pick me up :D
> 
> Next chapter shall involve more in the way of Bond and Q actually getting to talk to each other... Finally! and will hopefully be up midweek.  
> Till then have a good week!


	8. Talk.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Slight delay due to general lack of organisation and surprises of life, my apologies!  
> This chapters **warnings** may include mental trauma/flashbacks.  
>  Hope you enjoy!

[](http://imgur.com/VmbX5Sb)

 

\---

 

Q woke slowly, numbly, blinking awake in the late-autumn sunlight slinking into the den.

The first thing he noticed was that he could smell again. Or rather, that the almost blinding scent of body fluids and alpha and himself had finally diminished. The temperature on his skin felt normal for a November morning, cool but comfortable. Not burning from the inside out. For a moment the fresh scents of air mesmerized him amidst the still slightly stale den air, cloyed with the memory of his heat. Outside, close, he could smell James.

That scent alone relaxed some coiled muscle that he hadn’t paid attention to before. He smelt, well, nice, steady.

Secondly, Q was aware of his body. Everything ached, and he was tired, but no longer felt like death warmed over a fire. He couldn’t move much more than shift weak and loosely over the fresh fur beneath him. Pain shot up from his back and fluxed sore from between his legs.

Q gasped at the hurt and moments later there was a hand in his hair. He jumped turning towards it, opening his eyes to see blurry blond and bright pinpricks of blue. He frowned at his fuzzy vision; having thought it was a side effect of heat at the time.

“Hey,” James murmured, and eased his neck up to offer water. Q drank greedily and breathed deep when finished, happily sinking back to the makeshift pillow behind him.

“Hi,” He managed, voice weaker than he’d thought. His hand sought James’ of its own accord, and some tension seemed to bleed out of the alpha with a long breath. Q’s chest felt tight with the subconscious movement towards this alpha; fingers dimly categorizing the toughened skin beneath his own. There was a sense of mild worry or nerves, but those fingers felt more familiar than foreign. More friend than foe… He hadn’t expected they would.

The thought made him swallow.

James slipped carefully next to him, looking worried himself for a moment, likely because Q was staring. One of his fingers reached to trace the nearest inch of James’ chest, realizing he’d spent most of the last few however many days in a haze of blind lust and had barely gotten to know the man next to him. So why did he feel like he was calm?

But aside from the near constant shagging that muddled into one confusing hemorrhage of memories, he remembered the constant soothing presence, the care, the sense of devotion… it made him blush slightly, but not in regret. It was a lot of intimacy in such a short time, half of it he was out of his mind for… One thing he knew for sure was that James had broken the rules. He hadn’t been the alpha Q had expected.

Instead of taking what he wanted, he’d given Q what he needed… lust driven though most of his needs had been…

“I’m glad you’re okay.”

And now, there was no disrespect in those eyes. That was just honesty.

“Shh,” Q hushed, without really thinking why, except that it was what he used to do for Sherlock when he got worked up.

_‘-little Sherlock’_

The flash of memory had him flinching, his brother’s name spoken by Moriarty flaring his brain with agony and left him grimacing and shaking, clutching James’ hand as he tried not to make any noise.

There was a low breath above him, and a hand slowly crept into his hair, stroking slowly and soothingly.

“You don’t have to talk about it, but if you need to, do.” The gentle hand cupped his head softly. “If you can, tell me, please.” It was the request that undid him, rough-voiced and calm but emotive for him. A shuddering sob and hitched breath escaped him.

“M-Moriarty.” Q gulped as Bond remained carefully still. “H-he tried to, well, th- most of them, but he, my pack, I knew him from my pack with my brothers.” He finished the last bit in a rush and had to gulp and gasp breaths, tears tripping from his tightly shut eyes. James kissed them away and huffed out a long breath against him. Q felt it over his face and shuddered, shifted closer as the feel of hands on him replicated in the back, then front, of his mind.

Forgetful of his injuries Q tried to shy away from the memories only to end up in a world of pain.

They overtook him and gripped his body again as if it was for real and Q started to cry hopelessly, helpless to defend himself once again. This time from his own mind.

The only thing holding him together for a moment was James’ hands carefully holding his head and preventing him from bashing it any further. Q clinging to the only source of perceived comfort he could. Then he spoke, very low, very quiet, very personal.

“You beat them Q, you might not feel it now but you will. You did it by yourself, just on your own wit and skill, not even I helped with that. When you can, I want you to be proud of that much, you bloody incredible wolf.”

-00Q00-

The setting sun was warm on James’ nose as he sat outside for a bit. He was listening to see if he could hear anything from the rest of the run, who might not know it was all over by now despite Q having cycled through a heat.

James might never find out everything that had happened to Q in the Lobo dammed day it took him to get here. He had hoped Q wouldn’t remember much of it, but maybe it was better if he did.

What the alpha had said was true, he hoped Q would be proud of himself. He should be. James was fucking impressed. Or maybe sold.

Either way, he’d stayed with Q while he cried himself to sleep, and for a while afterwards, and then shifted into his fur outside the den and torn up some sticks to curb his disgust and fury at the other alphas.

He couldn’t kill them all, but damn if he didn’t want to.

If they’d broken Q, such a determined and bright young wolf, forever, then he would rip their throats out.

They should be moving. Movement always helped. Although Q would be too weak to travel for at least another day, even if James carried him, which he gladly would. Not being stuck in this place would help Q be free of it. The Badlands were no place for a recovering omega as it was.

James would be taking Q back to his pack, MI6, so named for the sixth mountain rise and pass along the great Intelligence divide that they resided on.

The mountain range cut the world in half. Legend had it that all the wolves on this side of Intelligence were descended from the Alpha Lobo and his mate the Omega Blanca. The two wolves had left the poor grounds on the other side of the mountain and the disrupted wolves that resided there, and used their vast intelligence, bravery and cunning, devotion, to venture over the indomitable mountain range and find new life on the other side, naming the divide Intelligence for the wit that had got two strong wolves over.

Bond wasn’t sure how much faith he put in the particulars of the extended legend, though he liked to trust somehow in Lobo and Blanca who must have been part of some pack that got through somehow. And any wolf that managed to overcome the lethal range had his respect. He’d tried it himself; it was impossible by all accounts, and attempts, to cross back over the mountain.

The journey home would be longer with Q as he was, and tiring for him, but the forests up to the foothills were beautiful and dense at this time of year. And the pack would be moved to their winter residences among the pines. He was sure Q would love it. After all, the omega’s own pack range was densely treed, with the exception of more swamp and bog for being lower down, and his lineage was highland if he took after his mother at all. They wouldn’t even have to cross other territories to get there, just manage through No Man’s Land and up.

The area for the Run was unappealing to all packs once the event was finished. There was no prey there save for small game, and it was something of a law that no wolf enter No Man’s Land between runs, giving the newly mated pair safety to get home and time to bond on the way. Wolves were nomadic after all; they bonded through traveling with their packs.

Of course, the pair, or one of, could howl for medical assistance if required. But Bond knew that it would only stress Q out at this point, and that what he really needed was rest.

The large blonde wolf snuffled the ground, a little miserably and wistfully. He wanted to know what Q looked like in his fur, wanted to run with him and hunt with him.

Standing and stretching languidly, Bond padded back inside the den and lay down next to Q with a snout-huff. He turned his head to nuzzle under Q’s chin and lick his throat. The omega wrinkled his nose and huffled a bit before rolling over as much as he could to bury into thick, soft fur.

“James,” The alpha smiled wolfily at the mumbled recognition, and his tail wagged happily as he used his nose and muzzle on his large head to help arrange Q to lie more comfortably, licking his flank and then over his back in a soothing caress impossible with hands.

Once Q relaxed completely, James flopped his head down on paws and watched the sun set calmly, feeling the weight of Q and shift of fur as they breathed together.

-00Q00-

James spent the next day and night waking Q regularly for water, food, to turn him and flex his legs and arms, wash him carefully and generally tried to ensure he was left wanting nothing and on the road to recovery. For the most part he slept, and occasionally reached for a hand to hold. The alpha was only too happy to encourage touching.

With their bond so new every moment of closeness counted.

By the night he was breathing easier and finally had enough sustenance in him that James carried him outside to relieve himself.

He removed the collar that stopped Q transforming when he was sure a shift wouldn’t cause the omega more pain. But he didn’t expect the young wolf would go into fur until he felt physically able to. Generally injuries in one form were hard to treat in the other.

James had dressed Q in the spare shirt he had packed, it was large on him and afforded only the barest of privacy and protection, but the alpha thought it might be appreciated. He himself pulled on some slacks so as to not potentially scare Q off with a naked alpha waiting for him. True, James had no trouble being bare, but it felt like the decent thing to do.

But Q’s scent was getting better, less damaged, and James kept his handling careful and caring, offering comfort rather than anything potentially construed as intimacy.

They’d spent a heat together, but he didn’t want Q to think he was demanding more. There was also the possibility that Q could be scared of intimacy without the hormones restraining his inhibition. Still, things were looking good so far.

He hoped. Though it was hard to tell with Q drifting in and out of sleep so much.

-00Q00-

Stench woke Q, sent him shying away, but the smell of the Badlands was all around now that he was present enough to notice it. The scent prickled his spine.

Wrinkling his nose Q rolled over, and other than a little flinch of pain found himself able to. It hurt, but the agony wasn’t so bad, and the sedentary routine of the last few days was becoming frustrating to the point that it made his skin itch.

The loose material of a large cream coloured shirt moved with him and slipped over his hands. Q could only assume James had had the decency to dress him for modesty’s sake. It was surprising that he could still feel mildly flustered about anything now, but being dressed was at least affecting him in a good way. It showed some restraint on James’ part, and some consideration for Q’s privacy… which was, kind of incredible, actually. Considering he’d been a mindless, writhing mass of begging not half a week ago. Q shook his head and sighed. It had happened. It had all happened. Could have gone worse, really.

_'Don’t think about the rest of your life. Just today'._ It wouldn’t work, he knew. His brain couldn’t stop whirring over the fact that he was mated for life.

Taking as deep a breath as he could Q shakily pushed himself onto all fours, wobbling a bit. His muscles hadn’t quite atrophied, but it was close enough to make him unstable even without the weakness lapping at him.

But he was determined, and sick of lying down. And… he sniffed at the scent of James not far outside the den. Q wanted to be closer. Much closer. Was that normal? Probably. It gave him that extra dose of motivation to go outside anyway.

With agonizing slowness the omega crawled to the wall and gripped it, pulling himself upright in weak gasps and stumbles. His knees shook, and his back and right calf ached, but he felt better just for getting up. Well, tired and more than a little dizzy and headachy, but better.

James must have heard him by now, but Q was grateful that the alpha was letting him alone to stumble upright. Truly James had exceeded every one of Q’s admittedly low expectations and ideas of the more dominant sex. But it was still nice to be offered a shred of independence.

It took ridiculously long to slope out of the den, and when he did the early afternoon sun blinded him into swaying a little.

“Hey there, you alright?” Q blinked the light away, mildly concerned at his still blurred vision, and located James.

The alpha was perched on a fallen tree trunk and busy cutting some small branches. He wasn’t wearing a shirt.

He looked gorgeous and muscled and Q impossibly felt want curl in his belly. It didn’t magnify much, but he did nod a bit dimly and slump down the outside of the den, watching him work. After a while with nothing but the sound of metal on wood and his own breaths his eyelids started to droop in the sun. James put the things to one side and turned to Q, raising his arms.

“Can you come here?” Q roused at the request, and eased himself mostly upright, limping badly over a little shyly. It was a choice he was taking, that lended him some bravery at least.

James’ hands found his waist when he got close enough and helped support his weight. Q sighed heavily in relief, shaking slightly, and let himself be guided to sit beside the blonde. James made sure he was stable and turned to grab his sticks.

Tentitively Q leant against the warm shoulder, and shivered a bit. James turned back to him quickly and wrapped his arm around Q’s waist supportively, comfortably. The alpha’s lack of tension and calm movements relaxed Q, not to mention the fact that the alpha seemed to be following his lead in terms of contact, and he leant more heavily until he felt comfortable. James dropped the sticks in his lap and turned to the younger wolf.

“Hi,” He grinned, smile charming and eyes crinkling, bright and blue enough to draw anyone’s gaze. Q blushed a bit as he smiled back.

“Hello.” If anything, the grin widened, and James ducked for a quick press of lips that Q licked his lips after automatically. The man then took Q’s right leg gently and lifted the lower half onto his lap. Q winced a bit at the sting of pressure on the cut and a growl escaped James’ throat, his hand squeezing over the shinbone in comfort for both of them, it seemed.

Amazingly, he didn’t seem about to ask difficult questions.

“Knife?” He growled the query instead, though it sounded like he already knew full well. Q nodded, surprised and remembering the flash of metal. He reached for the knife in the alpha’s lap and spun it testingly, James watching him with alert curiosity.

“Mm. Like this one, but with a longer blade…” He held a finger an inch away from the tip. “About this much, it was in good nick but had some serrations.” He indicated how much of the knife near the hilt had been jagged. “Probably a hunting knife for dismembering kills…” Q trailed off and froze, looking up at James nervously.

He didn’t know for sure, but he was pretty convinced that alphas didn’t like omegas that talked about knives rather than babies. Q had also just casually thefted the man’s weapon for a demonstration. Oh yes, very clever.

“Uhm, sorry.” James was watching him strangely, and his face crinkled into a faintly puzzled but entertained smile.

“Don’t be, I’m just trying not to imagine how long someone waved a knife in your face for you to pick up all that.” The hand around his waist tightened protectively, and Q found himself flushing and huffing a small incredulous laugh.

“Please don’t, I was halfway up a tree and managed to get just a glimpse. It went nowhere near my face.” James ducked swiftly enough to make Q jump and nosed his throat, breath warm on the skin.

“Halfway up a tree?” Q nodded a bit and leaned into James’ warmth.

“I think it was a fir. He nicked me when I jumped.” This time James really did tense, as if unable to bear the thought.

“You jumped.” He repeated in a tense voice. Q felt two arms snaking around him and James’ growl rumbling through them and awkwardly wound an arm around broad shoulders to pat the man. It was a bit surprising, to feel the more collected given their relationship thus far.

“Just into another tree. It was fine, really, I had a route planned, he would have been too heavy to follow and the tree bent into another one, and so on. The first one swishing back to hit him was a happy bonus.” Laughter surprised him as it broke from James in a rumble and the alpha leant beck, hands coming to hold Q’s face and grinning broadly.

“You cunning fox.” James was impressed. He was genuinely impressed- an alpha was impressed with him. “What’s wrong?” James asked, frowning and tilting his head, rubbing a thumb over Q’s eyebrow. Q couldn’t stop staring wide-eyed at the man.

“Nothing.” The frown deepened. “That’s what’s wrong.” James leant back a bit, and Q had the bizzarest impression that he had hurt the man. “Sorry just… I’m not so good with…” Awkward and struggling to find a way to convey himself Q gripped James’ hand and ducked his head to stare at it.

“I didn’t expect you to be like this.” He whispered. This time James definitely stiffened, shifted away and carefully lowered Q’s leg off his lap before standing. Q swayed a bit and stared at James’ back.

“Do you want to be alone for a bit? Or… I could hunt something for you. Might only be mice but,” The alpha huffed.

“Um, what?” Q managed, dimly. James turned back to him with a growl.

“I wont pin you if that’s what you want.” Q paled and shot to his feet with a snarl seconds before realizing it was a bad idea and crashing to his knees with a yelp. James caught him before he fell over completely and they both sat stiff and still for a bit.

“If you pin me, I’ll bite you, I don’t care if you rip my throat out.” Q managed through clenched teeth, though his voice was high and tense with fear rather than threat.

“For Lobo’s sake I said I wont pin you!”

“Then why mention it!”

“Because you said, you wanted me to be different.” James explained in a tone that was barely passively aggressive, more snide.

Q breathed out and raised his hands away from the broad shoulders he’d been digging his nails into.

“Meant it in a good way. Just can’t communicate properly.” Q bit out, he was beginning to feel the pain too much to temper his tone. James softened so smoothly that it drained tension from Q too, and he found himself situated comfortably in the alpha’s lap, weight taken from his struggling muscles. James’ eyes looked calmer.

“I’d appreciate if you could clarify that.”

“I make a terrible omega.”

“You’ve sold me so far.”

“Heat is a biological process, I’m sure if I’d been in control of it that would have been abnormal as well.” James laughed, first hard and then softly.

“I didn’t mean that.” Q deflated.

“Oh?” the man relaxed further and humored him, but his words were quietly serious.

“You’re quick on your feet, your mind seems quicker still, and you make me laugh. Your heat had its moments, I wont lie, but that’s not what impressed me.”

“Oh…” Q repeated weakly, flushing. If this was going to be okay, and his body was telling him that it could be better than that, than he’d ever thought even vaguely possible, he was going to have to try to… make James feel as special as the alpha was doing for him. With a breath Q sat straighter, though his vision blurred a bit.

“You, well, you’re nice.”

“Nice?” Q flushed and waved his hands, squeezing his eyes shut and tried again.

“The way you, I like that you’re… I’m not very good at this!” Q ended with a squeak of mortification. “This is why Mycroft does the talking, and I can tell you everything about a knife I saw for five seconds.” James was chuckling at him again, but it wasn’t cruelly.

“So you’re observant. That’s good. It’s not your brother I want for a mate.” That sparked something in Q’s memory, other than a nasty image to repress for life, and he leapt on the distraction. Opening his eyes again he eyed James carefully.

“You said my brother…organized you.” He queried, wary. James’ eyebrows raised as if surprised Q had remembered that, then sighed.

“Your brother got in touch with my pack leader, M, from MI6. He…” The alpha eyed Q a moment before steeling himself in determination to give Q the truth. “He brokered a deal that if we infiltrated the Run with stable, ‘acceptable’ alphas, and tried to keep you safe and unharmed, get you here and out of the line of fire, that he would let you join said suitable alpha’s pack. Whoever claimed you, as long as they were good enough for you.” Q was numb for a long moment before an agonizing thought occurred to him.

“Are you acting?” He had to ask, voice unexpectedly level with torment, and James looked aghast before pulling Q into him.

“No.” The growl went down to Q’s bones. “I swear it.” The panic came down slowly and Q nodded faintly, relaxing a bit.

He was so tired. And his back was burning with ache.

“Okay, okay.”

“Besides, your brother let it be known that if, when he met up with you at said new pack, you seemed anything less than ecstatic, he would cause an uprising, murder your alpha via sleeper agents and steal you away… He’s not by any chance overprotective is he?” Q laughed, short and loud and then kept chuckling as he leant back with a wince.

“You can’t blame him, after what the alphas in our pack became like, and what happened to my other brother. Not to mention the other Runs.” Q met the blue-eyed gaze and blushed a bit. “That’s what I meant, really, that you’ve blown me away a little bit.”

It was a weak attempt at everything he wanted to say, but James cocked his head up a bit with a chuffed little smile and looked for the world like Q had just told him he was made of gold.

“Thank you.”

“We’ll, you’re welcome. And… thank you, too.” James’ expression turned almost soulful as he bent and kissed Q slowly, lingeringly. Q could almost feel the reverence of their new bond spark.

James set about binding Q’s ankle with a splint from the sticks he’d made. Q started falling asleep halfway through, and felt the alpha kiss his temple before helping him stand to walk inside.

“Stay?” Q asked, arm swinging as he held onto the hand of the man that was now his mate, looking up from his bed on the furs. James silently slid down beside him, and helped Q shift into an embrace.

“I’ll always look after you, and I’ll never lie. I can’t promise I’ll be perfect, but I’ll do my best to be perfect for you.” Q’s heart seemed ready to just about melt. Thinking that where he was concerned, actions might speak louder than words the omega ducked down to kiss the warm skin over James’ heart, turning to listen to the soft thudding.

It was incredibly soothing.

“You’re not doing too bad so far. Distinctly impressive, maybe.” Q murmured, and James chuckled as he held his new mate closer.

“I can work with that.”

“…You might have to…” Q admitted with a small amount of worry, and looked up to meet James’ eyes. There passed the understanding of just how they had been thrown into this together. Q could barely stand to think about what he’d been through, couldn’t promise he’d ever be okay, couldn’t even promise he’d loosen up. It had very nearly been too much for him, might still be waiting to claw into his mind at any moment… and it was only James and his own struggling mental stamina that had brought him back together this much. “Is that okay?”

James met his eyes solemnly and without a hint of deceit.

“Yes.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter was probably the hardest to write, and has had many mucho read throughs. I'm not entirely sure it encapsulates everything how I wanted? I'm not sure... I'd appreciate any feedback, did you think it alright character/situation wise?  
> I hope it was alright and enjoyable, regardless!
> 
> Thank you THANK YOU for so many lovely comments and kudos last chapter, you're all super duper people. ;3  
> Next chapter Monday-ish? Yeah, Monday-ish.


	9. Sing.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Tuesday is Monday-ish right? ;D  
> Ahaha more smut ahoy! But there's some non-smut too, fret not!  
> Enjoy!

[](http://imgur.com/NJuMiQp)

 

\---

 

Something timeless was drifting through his dreams. Q was running, free and easy with the wind in his fur when the song of all wolves’ made him look up. Sherlock barked impatiently for him to follow, heading deeper into the dark woods, but from up there on the mountain came the most treasured voice Q had ever heard.

Q leaned towards it, keening, only to promptly fall over and out of the fur pile, back into the calmly coloured world of reality. After a moment, he realized the song continued.

Curiosity peaked, the omega struggled up on his shaking limbs, the splint helping a little, and stumbled outside.

To his right was James, a large and frankly beautiful wolf. Q’s breath was caught; he hadn’t been in his right mind enough to focus when the alpha had shifted over the last few days. It was like watching the sun kiss snow in the morning on the mountains.

James’ fur was pale yellow and it would be easy to see that and that alone, but Q could pick out three distinct layers of tone. Palest from muzzle down his belly to tail, the fur had an intermediate layer between the strongest yellow that graced his back, shoulders and haunches. Upon broad shoulders was a short ruff of knife-metal grey shaped almost like a swooping eagle’s wings. Over the crown of the large head, between two velvet ears, was another thin stripe of grey running from the back of James’ skull to mid-way on his forehead.

It took Q a while to realize he was mesmerized at the sight, partly because James just looked so different from the wolves within his own pack, which were typically dark of fur. He was also built thicker, though still absolutely tall and huge, very muscled and not at all lean. There were some small dark furless areas of scarring, and the alpha’s short-ish tail was bent about a fifth from the end as if it had been broken and healed crooked. He was absolutely stunning. It didn’t really help Q’s fluster that James made just as bloody gorgeous a wolf as he did a man.

And good Lobo, Blanca and all their pups the wolf could sing! His howl was confident, strong and yet with that tinged note of haunted mourning, but he was singing out proud and defiant for the world to hear: Omega claimed. It was followed by what Q recognized must be the signature call relaying his pack, and then the personal notes dictating who was calling. It was the alpha’s name, in effect, and it was that that held the tone of grief.

Q didn’t feel stung for James calling him ‘the omega’; howls weren’t as versatile as vocabulary but contained far more emotional nuances. Without knowing Q’s personal and pack howls, there was no way anyone would believe James if he attempted to name Q specifically.

The generic howl for ‘omega’ was a lilting sweet little up-down swing, and the call for ‘claimed’ was a powerful and long attention-grabbing note. The stronger and more confident James sounded, Q realized, the more likely other wolves would leave them alone.

The music sank into his bones and with a little soft whine of longing Q felt himself pulling off James’ loose shirt and shifting fluidly into his fur. It felt like a sigh of relief after so long confined to skin alone. Winding his way out of the final entrance of the den Q sat and filled his chest with as much air as his bruises allowed before lifting his muzzle to the sky with a long up-swinging note that came to him naturally. He’d never used it before.

James was startled into staring at him as Q howled out, not capable of much volume, the tones of ‘ _claimed_ ’.

It didn’t feel nearly as bitter as Q had imagined, although there was a taste of that there. One couldn’t lie through a howl though, it came from the soul and heart, and Q was genuinely surprised by the effervescent notes of hope wrapped around the overall long-notes of _safe, loved_.

So he trusted James.

So that was it. That was why he didn’t mind, he felt loved, felt like he had a future. The nerves in his howl were faint compared to the other feelings.

Q surprised himself into halting, entirely unprepared for what his soul was telling him. James was watching him, and his bright blue eyes looked struck with equal surprise, also excitement, fondness, delight, pride. _Happiness_.

If he’d been in his skin, Q would have blushed right down to his bones. James seemed barely able to contain himself, and as such threw his snout to the sky with a cloud-breaking howl of claimed! Q followed almost subconsciously, and their songs rolled and twisted together in the wind. Q doubted his would catch far, but James’ was powerful enough to nearly take his breath away, and the emotions would be plain as day to any listeners.

Their songs were strikingly similar, full of hope, promise, some sort of understood security, and yet so stunningly different that Q was relieved. His own song was simple yet potent compared to James’ intricate and complex one.

Whilst Q, maybe due to youth, or his clear values and simplistic view on the whole thing, sang of three main emotions, James’ was rich and mingled with confidence, urgency, desire to succeed, hope to not fail, pride that they wouldn’t, pride for Q, and so many things that the omega couldn’t even hope to name.

It seemed like a complicated existence, but the difference in their songs was the final convincing Q needed to know his hormones weren’t simply coercing him to whatever the alpha wanted. He was sure their songs would have been identical were that the case. At the same time, the similarities gave him comfort. Their shared values and hopes, acceptance, that made him finally calm.

Q could feel his voice going with the strain on his body, and swiftly slung on his name-howl, a high-pitched twisting thing of complex notes. James looked a little wonderstruck by it, which somewhat pleased Q in a silly manner. But he had to pause before tacking on his pack howl, he didn’t know what counted anymore, he wasn’t part of James’ pack, not yet or officially, but neither was he belonging to his own.

Instead Q wailed out the haunting cries of his family; technically a bit of a faux pas, since Mummy had been destroyed and any link to their family within the pack howl squashed. But he could remember it, and rebellion had always pleased him, James seemed amused.

For that alone, Q also attempted to sing James’ name, because that was what belonging meant, as he understood it. Primarily he and James were each other’s right now before they were their pack’s.

In his own voice, it sounded different, and hearing James attempting his own name was both hilarious and shot need straight into his bones to be touching his new alpha.

With their first howl falling to a natural close, James had his eyes on Q intently enough that the omega felt pinned by them, his new mate’s nose aquiver and whiskers as perked as his ears.

 

-00Q00-

James had never heard anything like Q. He sung with a high and melodious howl that had a haunting quality in the lingering notes. The complexity of his family and name calls contrasted so starkly with the simplicity of his outright emotions that it blew James away a little bit.

Hearing Q sing out his name had brought such a primal response in Bond that he could barely hold off pouncing on his new omega and licking him silly. Instead, he was transfixed by Q’s appearance.

In his fur Q was smaller than James and svelte as he was in his skin; all long legs and a particularly exuberantly long looking tail that the alpha just wanted to chew on. He had a look of the adolescent about him, youthful and not entirely filled out yet.

His fur was gorgeous. Long and fluffy and soft looking like his hair, good mountain wolf coat even if his appearance was nothing like Bond’s mountain dwelling kin. He was dark, not all over as Vesper had been though. In fact Q was tri-coloured. The cream-pale sweep of fur leading from nose down to belly and onto tail was enticing and asking to be licked along, and he had perfect matching paws of the light fur; as if dipped in the stuff. On his face, tail and paws the cream was outlined by a thin honey line of fur that disappeared down his throat and belly before reemerging. The rest of him was a rich darkest brown colour except for the fluffy insides of his cream-honey ears, and what was by far James’ favourite feature:

Indisputably adorable, over Q’s stunning and black-rimmed eyes, lay two perfect patches of oval cream. These contracted or widened with every facial movement and quirk of brow to give his omega a hugely expressive quality. Right now with his brows frowning and slightly pinched in confused worry at his appraisal, the wolf looked almost comically emotive.

With a barely controlled whine James bounded to Q and sniffed at him briefly before licking with fierce delight over his eye-patches.

At first Q squirmed a bit and turned his head to protect himself, but James with a huff firmly put a paw over the omega’s shoulders and set up camp. Q wriggled a bit, evidently unused to having his eyes under such thorough attention. James couldn’t help himself. Tail wagging he licked and licked and licked, alternating between the two perfect patches until Q seemed to be under some sort of hypnotized spell, slumping gently to the ground and stretching out, James settling front legs over his shoulders comfortably to hold him there and accept the attention.

By the time he’d managed to remind himself there was a whole wolf to lick and not just two adorable markings, Q’s patches were wet and his eyes blinked open damply. James snuffled at them and huffed his approval before moving on.

Q’s ears were also deliciously soft, and James couldn’t resist taking each of his omega’s four cream paws into his mouth, tongue lathing over them and making Q wriggle. The young wolf positively squirmed when James nosed him over so that he could lick a stripe down all the way from Q’s muzzle to the tip of his tail.

With a keen Q raised himself enough to burrow his snout into James’ nearly-as-thick belly fur, Seemingly in retaliation before he became engrossed with the scent and the rub of thick fur.

Feeling it was only fair to allow Q his exploration James used his head and a paw to pull Q closer encouragingly, and lay down to let the other wolf have freedom. He wasn’t disappointed that he had. Q turned out to be just as curiously playful as he remembered.

With a tentative start Q nuzzled and nosed his belly for a bit, dropping lower, and became transfixed with the strong scent at the alpha’s genitals for a moment. James supposed it was only natural, Q was quite young, and whilst the alpha had purposely only glossed over Q’s own privates, his omega was immediately drawn in to the larger wolf’s sex, the heavy scent there, before drawing himself together and moving on.

James was happy to accept the fact that he would be getting aroused fairly quickly by the young wolf’s actions and raised a back leg slightly to allow more access to the tongue Q was flicking along his back paw.

As the ministrations continued, James couldn’t resist ducking his head to between Q’s legs and scenting him there, moving up to nibble his pale belly. The omega’s legs back legs trembled and kicked out a little, stopping his licking with a whuffled whine and mouthing along James’ hind quarters instead as if to try and regain some focus.

He wasn’t fairing much better himself. Torn between the desire to roll the younger wolf over and play or grab him by the hips. Q shifted up on his front paws, found James’ muzzle and licked almost impatiently for a confused moment, demanding, and then opened his mouth with a silly little noise to seemingly attempt to eat half of James’ head.

With a playful growl James grabbed Q’s tail in his mouth –it felt even better than he’d imagined- and gave it a good shaking, the tip wiggling madly whilst the base tried to escape with its owner. Q shoved his nose back into James’ fur and mewled plaintively, nuzzling until the alpha could restrain himself no longer. Q was an almost obscene mix of adorable and arousing.

If they were going to end up fucking, James was hardly about to complain. With their bond so fresh he wanted nothing more than to be over Q all the time… preferably inside him as much of that time as he could be. But they could only mate as wolves when Q was in heat, which regardless of his new mate’s cycles would not be within three days of his last one.

Gently rolling away and sitting behind Q, James shifted back into his skin, catching and stroking at Q’s shifting, thick-furred and soft hips to get his attention. Q’s muzzle turned back to him, patches pinched in query and panting.

“Skin Q, if you want this. Now.” Puzzled for a bare moment, Q seemed to wriggle back into his skin, flushed but sheepishly aroused looking. James just grinned at him encouragingly.

“Good, now where were we?”

They ended up fucking languidly; James’ slow rolling of hips driving Q into some confused state of nirvana.

It wasn’t as powerful as the aroma of heat, and James could tell anything even slightly more rough and tumble than the barely-there movements would be jarring Q’s stiff muscles and causing him pain.

The omega was uncomfortable anyway, the prickly grass not helping, and James was struggling to remember why they hadn’t moved back inside. But despite the discomfort Q was rubbing back against him slowly, they were barely parting and both panting softly. Besides, having Q outside in the open for the sky to see them was only sweetening the moment further.

James kissed Q’s shoulders and mouthed over his neck whilst the omega panted into his ear, suckled the slightly sweaty skin of his throat. Between them James moved the hand he had on Q’s waist down to fondle the omega’s smaller cock, down to massage his balls and back up. Q shuddered against him with a whimper that James shushed, gracing the skin behind Q’s ear with a hot tongue.

His other arm was going numb behind Q’s shoulders, and the omega’s trembling thighs were clenched around his waist, feet pressing into James’ buttocks with shaking strength to encourage him. There was too much pressure being put on Q’s back, and he was probably sore from the sudden and violent heat, so James was happy to keep their movement almost glacial.

Q’s warmth was unreal, and the omega occasionally clenched around him so that the already tight squeeze hit just the edge of too much for James.

Eventually his knot started to swell, and it caught slightly at Q’s rim from where he was fully seated inside, drawing the most pleasing of little whimpers from him, the omega’s heels digging in to him needily.

“Stay, stay in, Blanca _fuck_ -“

James’ hips stuttered and bucked into Q as his vision blinded in surprise of his climax with a shout. Q squirmed on the rapid pressure of his knot and clamped down hard when James’ started spurting deep inside, mouth falling open with gasps. The alpha bent till his teeth caught around Q’s neck and claim bite, digging in tightly and causing the smaller body beneath him to jerk again.

Once they’d calmed, James still occasionally pulsing into Q and making him squirm and mumble little noises of undecided pleasure or strangeness, the alpha caught his breath. He hadn’t even had the composure or breath to respond to Q’s surprise demand. He wasn’t even sure he could quite voice the desire that Q gaining pleasure from his knot instilled.

Eventually he caught his breath when the other wolf wriggled and flexed a bit, caught and frowning contemplatively with a gasp.

“Does it make you uncomfortable?” James asked, a little awkwardly, sliding one arm under Q’s waist to help support the splay-legged omega. The younger wolf nosed into his neck, shivering a little with chill and heavy-eyed. He was still so weak, and James cursed himself a bit for indulging them both rather than letting Q recover. But their bond had nearly demanded it, and the stronger that was before they ran into any more alphas, the better.

“Just weird, good but, mm, different. _Very_ different.” Q murmured, arms coming to curl around James’ neck as he nuzzled in further. Somewhat relieved by the answer, the alpha kissed him, and then peppered soft presses of lips over Q’s jaw, nose, eyes and brows, lingering where he knew the patches were in wolf form. Q’s breaths evened out into the slightly shallow pattern he’d become familiar with, and after a while James slid out.

They’d have to get moving soon. He’d wanted to leave this morning, but instead he’d settle for whenever Q woke next. They had a lot of ground to cover.

The alpha was also wary that his call to alert the patrols to the end of the hunt might also draw some of the more desperate alphas to them. But he’d had to call before setting off with Q so that the way could start to be cleared by the wardens. Nearer MI6 territory his pack would be waiting for him, defending the route. Some, like Alec, or M’s other favourite assassins, should they still be alive, might even lurk around James and Q’s periphery as extra protection.

Either way, they needed to get to the safety and home of a pack soon; winter was starting to close in towards the end of November. He didn’t want Q exposed to the elements more than he had been even if the omega was hardy.

Plus, second heats could be erratic if the omega was bonded. It could hit early, even as soon as a few weeks, or be long and difficult whilst the body settled into a natural rhythm.

James would rather have Q somewhere safe for that. Especially as it would likely be getting cold by then. The sudden upswing of body temperature followed by the biting cold of the environment could lead to shock. He wanted Q somewhere where James could keep him warm and safe in his skin. Somewhere where there wasn’t a threat of unfamiliar wolves and lack of food.

After all, no matter what M said, the pressure to bear pups, and quickly, would be tremendous given the situation of the packs.

They’d cross that log when they came to it, James decided, scooping Q up in his arms and carrying his mate back inside the warmth of their makeshift den.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [](http://imgur.com/uzmuwxK)
> 
> This was the picture that helped get this show on the road! It took ages to decide on colours for them and how said colours fell. But _wolfs_ so I had fun... and then came all of this!  
>  It was all done on photoshop and with a reference picture that is adorable and somewhere... But thought you'd like to see the non!chibi versions x3
> 
> Thank you all HUGELY for the kudos and comments from last chapter, I appreciated the feedback so much that a cake was brought... and eaten. Not at all in one sitting but mostly *shifty eyes* So thank you very much! I hope you continue to enjoy and there will be more quite soon!  
> Ciao for now


	10. Move.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So so sorry for the wait for this one guys! I'm on a moving holiday and both internet and electricity are fairly sketchy!  
> Anyway, here you go, enjoy!

[](http://imgur.com/aVoYCXY)

 

\---

 

True to his word, James waited until Q started to wake at dawn. Noticing the small shifting movements and little noises, he went over and lay next to Q till he could nuzzle his new mate’s neck. The omega hummed for a bit before curling into the alpha’s warmth subconsciously.

For a moment James held him close and encouraged him to snuggle, languishing in the feeling. If he let it carry on though, Q would probably slip back to sleep, and James could scent rain on the horizon.

“Q, come on gorgeous, we have to move.” Rather than protest, as James expected, Q frowned, shook himself a little into wakefulness and moved a safer distance away from the sleepy warmth. Bond had to fight down the urge to pull his young mate back again and let him sleep, instincts to travel and be close, protect, warring within him. Instead he stroked encouragingly up Q’s flank.

“Can you move? Are you ready?” James asked, and didn’t miss the small flash of apprehension in Q’s eyes, quickly covered up as he closed them and turned to sniff. Other than a flinch at the scent of no man’s land, the omega’s nose wrinkled at the heralding of rain on the air.

“Better now, than before that hits.” James kissed him and detached with some regret to start packing up the bare minimum of what they needed into a bag that James could wear both as a human or wolf, if necessary.

“I can help you walk, or carry you altogether, but this is no place for you to stay. And we need to reach the Sixth Intelligence pass before winter hits fully.” Q was starting to clamber out of the furs behind him, shivering a little at the task ahead of them.

“I might be stabler on four legs.” Q supplied, voice contemplative and hesitant. James turned to him, to his brave, battered omega. Lobo but he was young, thin too, and the bruises stood out starkly on his skin, back a myriad of red-purple-blue. The sight was agonizing, and he really didn’t want to move Q at all, but he had to.

“The point is you being as comfortable as possible, if it takes us a year, I don’t care, alright?” Q blushed a bit, nodded. “We can’t take much, it’ll slow us down, but I should be able to catch us more prey if we need it. Hell, you’ll probably be better at it than I am, I usually hunt in the mountains, not in the valleys.”

“If I can I will.” Q promised, looking around uncertainly, James paused as he finished stuffing the bag, dropping it slowly.

“What?” He asked, voice soft. Q gulped a bit.

“Where are we going to sleep?” The question nearly cut James to the core. He didn’t want Q to have to worry about anything, but knew he wouldn’t be able to take all the furs, find a den as good as this one every night. Q, however, continued without noticing the pause, face creased in resignation and thought. “Don’t get me wrong, I don’t mind roughing it, but given my present…condition, and if the weather turns, even if I’m in my fur, it probably wouldn’t help matters…”

So the pup was practical. James felt more proud than ever, and a bit relieved. Even if Q wasn’t happy about having such a blatant weakness, the fact that he was admitting it showed maturity the alpha hadn’t expected. Should have, given what Q had accomplished, but hadn’t. He moved over to Q, knelt, and took the other wolf’s face in his hands.

“Whatever you need, I will find it for you, and as far as I can I’ll find us shelter for the night… I can’t promise much, but-“ Q shook his head emphatically, stopping after wincing a bit and holding onto James’ wrists instead.

“Shelter’s fine, anything is, I was just worried that your plan was to sleep where you dropped every night.”

“No, Q.” James swore, low and earnest, Q flushed a bit, flustered, and blinked away.

“Okay, well, good.” After a moment’s shyness, Q kissed him lightly on the mouth, blushing nervously, James grinned, keen to encourage the behaviour of free affection and touching, and kissed him back, licking Q’s lips after as he went.

“Alright then,” He began, watching with pleasure as Q bashfully licked his own lips to sample the taste. “Soon as you’re ready, we should be off.”

Q backed a little out of his hands and shivered into his fur, glancing up through green-enchanted eyes with a calm waiting posture. Ready. For a moment James stroked into the soft fur, rubbing Q’s velvet ear, and then kissed an eye patch. The omega was clearly still unused to such contact and wriggled all the way down to his tail-tip.

James shifted himself, pulled the bag on with some ungainly difficulty, and went to lick Q’s patches properly. The omega attempted to wheedle out of it with a little whine, but James continued until he was satisfied that Q smelled enough like him. He decided that this level of obsessive dominance Q could probably cope with, and James had to vent that facet of himself in some way. After he stood, nuzzled encouragingly, and shook himself towards the cave mouth, turning back to wait, tail raised.

Q stood on shaky paws and lollopped out unevenly, tail swinging out for balance. James came to his side, supporting, head resting on Q’s shoulders for a moment before ducking to whine encouragingly, nudging the omega’s muzzle up with a lick.

He started off, Q leaning on him at first whilst his long legs woke up, limping on his sprained and sliced back leg, the twisted front left. Soon he loosened up and into the gentle movement and the pair strolled on. James put himself a head in front of Q, in order to lead and watch out for dangerous twigs that might trip up his new mate…

His mate. He was going home with his mate. His very soul wanted to howl in pleasure, or turn back to lick Q. Knowing that would upset the omega’s tentative balance however, James kept his tail high and proud and waggling fluidly instead, nurturing their conceived bond and leading the way.

They traveled some distance through the burnt shrubs and trees. James’ plan was to keep the river on their right until they reached the fording point, a lake a good few days trek from here where this river joined the tendrils of the one formed in Bond’s mountains. Gradually light intensified and lowered, the ground became less dry around them and the trees grew taller, thicker.

James had slipped a few paces ahead, scouting between trees because he could smell old alpha-blood, when Q called out a whine-bark for him to wait. James turned, alert, to see his omega panting and lowering to the ground on shaky legs.

James jumped over a log in the path and snuffled Q’s fur, whining in question, nudging him encouragingly. The rain hadn’t started yet, and they weren’t very far, if Q could manage even a few more meters the tree cover improved dramatically.

“I can’t, my vision’s getting worse. I can’t see well without you.” He panted. James froze for a pause, cautiously lying down next to Q.

“What do you mean worse?” He asked, voice low and serious with worry. Q’s nose turned to him, ears back in a sign of unwillingness to move.

“It’s not so bad in my fur, but in my skin my eyes are blurry.” James shifted into his skin swiftly, cursing as he forgot the backpack on the wolf-strap arrangement around him.

“Change.” Bond commanded, and Q did after a moment’s hesitation as the alpha fought free from the bag. “Let me see.”

He carefully took Q’s pale and shadowed face in his hands. He’d pushed the omega too far, already, and traced a thumb under the clear green eyes.

“Don’t bite me, this might be uncomfortable.” James warned in a quiet voice, and gently pulled Q’s eyelids on one eye, than the other, checking for dirt or scratches. There was nothing. He then turned to check the back of the pup’s head, feeling gently for more serious injuries he could have missed. “Are you seeing double?”

“No, just fuzzy.” James pulled back and scanned Q carefully.

“From where?” Q looked around and then regretfully tapped James’ nose from where he sat, not half a meter away.

“There, that’s the last clear point.” The news was troubling, worrying, James wanted to somehow bathe Q’s eyes and make them better.

“Why didn’t you tell me?” Q blushed.

“I thought it was just the -my- heat, originally. It’s always been a bit blurry, far off.” James frowned.

“You’re short-sighted? Why didn’t you say?” Q looked at him, blinking in confusion.

“Short-sighted?” He asked. James’ lips tightened, touching the back of Q’s head.

“You say it was always a bit fuzzy, and in your fur it’s not too bad?”

“In my fur it’s the same as it used to be. I just got tired just now.” The alpha sighed in relief.

“That’s okay then, we can fix that.”

“We can?” James smiled reassuringly.

“You might need glasses, someone in my pack makes them… I bet; you’d look adorable in them.” Q frowned, nose scrunching in confusion as James grinned. “You must have seen someone in them… you know,” James held his hands up and made circles over his eyes, “glasses.” He indicated. Q gained some recognition.

“Once, …Moriarty’s father wore them, but I never knew what they were called. Or why. I always did wonder.” James smiled, the worry fading back in relief. This was a problem that he could solve, not yet maybe, but soon. Until then, he’d keep a closer eye on Q.

“Your head wound must have made it worse, but when we reach my pack, we’ll get you fitted first thing.” Q seemed a bit relieved at the possibility of a solution, and it reminded James just how young he was.

Rain started pattering the sparse leaves and James looked around.

“Come on, just a little further and we’ll find somewhere to rest.” James encouraged, standing and pulling Q’s equally naked body with him. The omega swayed when upright, eyelids drooping, and James decided instead to switch the pack onto his front before bending to offer Q his back. For a moment Q debated, gathered his wits with hands on his mate’s shoulders, and then accepted the help, sighing in relief when he melted onto James.

The alpha stood, carefully, feeling Q’s head loll onto his shoulder, body sagging. Eyes scanning for a suitable resting place, James picked his way over the log and onwards as the rain increased and thunder rumbled in the distance. Up a little way a fallen fir tree had collided with some of its neighbors, creating if not complete shelter at least a reprieve. For now it would have to do.

James lowered Q to the ground and caught his head gently.

“Fur, Q, it’ll keep you warm.” Without a word the omega obeyed and turned, curled up in a limp little mound of exhaustion. James followed into his fur and trotted in a circle around Q before sitting nearly on top of him, draping his head just above Q’s tail, resting on a haunch and looking out into the rain, keeping watch.

It felt right, to be curled up, fur rubbing against Q’s. It felt like the most natural thing in the world when his omega nosed into his fluff and huffed, settling in for sleep.

-00Q00-

It was morning again before Q woke. Bond was trying not to get itchy, after all he had accepted Q wouldn’t be strong, in fact managing what they had was quite impressive. Still, it was barely progress, and come dawn rain was still mizzling down around them.

Q uncurled a little, paused, blinking around in sleepy numbness.

“Come on, we need to move.” James announced softly, encouragingly nosing Q’s muzzle. The omega didn’t stretch, but did a strange full-body shake-shiver and rolled to his unsteady paws, body looking floppy and languid.

James felt his mouth tense in displeasure and worry. There was little he could do for Q beyond what he had, and in every fur he felt the threat of lingering too keenly to stay. Even to allow Q the rest he so sorely needed.

Instead he stood too and shook off before lining himself beside the smaller wolf, offering support to Q’s weak leaning.

“We’ll take it slow.” He soothed calmly, and moved to shrug awkwardly into their pack before leading Q down to the stream to drink.

Q sank back down to his belly in order to lap lethargically at the water. Bond looked up through the trees as if he could see the peak of his pack mountain lying up-stream and wind.

It would be a distant, threatening spike at this distance and angle.

This was not going to be easy.

 

-00Q00-

 

Traveling with James was a strange lulling sensation. Q was too exhausted most of the time to really realize that this was the rest of his life, but sometimes he thought about it. Whilst plodding along beside the alpha, fur brushing together, or watching the pale wolf jump ahead to scout some rocks, or when he got too tired to go on and James carried him along on his back…it didn’t seem so bad, really.

They talked, when Q had the breath for it. James was a fascinating wolf. The places he’d been, the different cultures, the different inventions, Q had to try very hard to not seem too impressed by it. Given the way James smiled at him sometimes, he didn’t think he managed it very well.

“Well, when I was young Mummy had me in the high mountains, not yours, the Reichenbach ones…” Q trailed off, James’ innocent question about places the omega had traveled led him to remember something worse. He hadn’t thought it at the time, but the river that ran down that mountain, the one that led down into no man’s land, ended in the Reichenbach Falls… the waterfall where Moriarty had nearly taken everything.

“Q?” the omega threw out a small smile.

“Sorry, just thinking. I suppose that living in the highlands was what saved me from the disease. By the time I was introduced to the pack, the infection stage must have been over.” James hummed thoughtfully.

“Guess I’ve got her to thank then.” Q blushed. It was the little comments like that that caught him by surprise, James gave one of his cheeky half-smiles so that Q couldn’t entirely tell if he meant it romantically.

“You do, actually.” He pointed out, thinking that the only reason he’d run as well as he did was thanks to growing up chasing winds on the heights. “And who do I have to thank?” Q asked, turning to look at his new mate. James seemed to close off before his eyes, shadow. The younger wolf frowned. “James?” There was a huff of difficult breath and Q found himself reaching out to grip the man’s hand, starling James from his dark contemplation to look round at Q, who had stopped. The omega fixed James with the most determined and serious look that he could, one he’d practiced off Mycroft.

“If it’s too painful or difficult to tell me, then don’t. I’d rather trust you than force you to lie to me.”

James looked astounded, and then a touch rueful.

“You won’t get very far in life like that, Q.” He commented sadly, clearly seeing naivety before him. Q held his composure regardless of the slight on his maturity.

“I’ve made it further than I thought like that. And its served me well enough so far, given that you’ve yet to give me a reason to distrust you.” James shook his head with an almost laughing breath, though he still looked rather agonized. The alpha turned to begin moving again, but caught Q’s waist in his arm as if to lessen the blow of not entirely believing Q’s point.

“Come on, its getting dark.”

“I know.” Q commented vaguely, looking through the trees. It wouldn’t be winter before long. Wordlessly Q gave himself until the first snowfall… If he hadn’t earned James’ respect by then, his trust, then he never would.

That much he could read from the man, that he was protective, but didn’t necessarily trust Q. And why really should he? They knew barely anything of each other but heat.

Not to mention, to be honest the omega was half expecting the other shoe to drop too…

The thought alone made him curl one of his hands into James’ shirt where he had it around the man’s waist. If he was hurt by even the thought of James turning or leaving already, then clearly he was a lost cause.

He wasn’t quite sure how much of that he could blame on their bond either.

-00Q00-

 

Another day of rain, whilst trying to navigate a steep slope of slippery rocks, was not appreciated. In any way.

“Ah, Lobo, fuck,” Q swore, keeping up the litany of panted curses as he tried to pull himself up to the top of a boulder with his arms. After a few pushes and pulls he was up, chest heaving, sitting with splayed legs and leaning on his hands as he looked up at James, standing and looking like a phantom ghost wolf on a ledge above, carefully testing the way before coming back down to Q. Something out of the past and untouchable.

Q was shaking, his body rippling with bursts of fire and James’ expression was pinched with concern as he morphed out of his fur beside the young man.

“I told you not to move, stubborn thing.” He criticized gently, checking the fluttering pulse at Q’s neck and frowning.

“I h-had to, rain’s getting worse.” Q blathered. Truthfully, he was still driven a bit by the fear of the run, and he didn’t like this place in particular. The way the wind howled through the creaking trees and rocky ridges sounded like someone screaming.

James just brought Q’s head to rest on his chest for a moment, holding him, kissing his sopping hair. Q breathed in the scent and tried to tell himself he was being ridiculous. But there were shadows crawling up his back and he’d never been able to lie to himself.

“I don’t like it here, we should keep going, Bond-“

“We will, as soon as you calm down, you’re going to have a panic attack at this rate.” He wasn’t wrong, but Q still shook his head, both pushing and tugging a little at the alpha.

“Please, I can’t explain it but please-“

“Alright, alright. But you need to rest, we’re only going as far as the cover of those roots up there, then you’re going to eat something.” Q nodded, panting still, trying to shake off the creeping feeling and following James’ lead onwards.

Back in his fur, all of Q’s legs were shaking, but James looked more solid and less like an apparition. The damage to his vision in his skin was astounding. Q hauled himself up and tripped over rocks and barely concentrated on his fatigue for the urge to keep getting away. James had to pull Q back with his hands when the younger wolf blindly turned to continue zigzagging up slope when they reached the tree. Q whined against the restraint but James wouldn’t budge on it.

“You _need_ to rest Q, stop.” There was demand skirting close to order in the alpha’s voice and Q relented. Locking his legs in place and muscles tensed to keep himself still. Not trusting his skin, Q gnawed on the dried meat James pulled out of the bag anxiously.

There was no misreading the clear concern in Bond’s blue eyes, but Q couldn’t even meet his gaze. The oppressing air seemed to be thickening like the onset of thunder and the young wolf couldn’t help his memories flickering back to the last storm he’d been in.

It wasn’t safe here. It wasn’t safe and he didn’t like it. They should move. They should _run_.

Q whined and shook himself in agitation, shifting his paws. Every now and then he caught James’ frowning gaze in between scanning their surroundings and panting. Eventually with another whine Q threw himself down onto his belly in a last ditch effort to stay still, gaze following shapes in the torrential rain and heart pounding.

One of James’ large hands found and scratched his neck gently, massaging, trying to ground him. Q didn’t find it terribly helpful, not when the lashing rain sounded like pounding paws and the wind howled like a call to hunt.

“Q…” James tried, trailing off. Q turned an ear towards him but otherwise kept staring intently at the wilderness. “Ok, alright.” Q glanced up as the alpha shifted into his fur and shrugged on the adapted pack. The pale muzzle of his mate nosed Q with some impatient reluctance and nudged him into standing. Q’s legs almost shook out from relief and he yipped a swift thanks before turning to skitter up the slope.

-00Q00-

Whatever it was that was haunting Q had truly sunk its teeth in now. James was a bit at a loss but almost more concerned to let Q sit and hyperventilate than hopefully tire it out of his system with movement. Even with the treacherous surface they were negotiating the omega’s long and sopping tail was remaining tucked between his legs when it could have been used for balance. Fretting and watching the scrabbled path his mate was taking, James occasionally helped nose the smaller wolf’s rump over obstacles where the injured back leg failed him.

Uncaring of his own exhaustion, Q carried on until James was beginning to feel the creeps up his own spine and knew they had to stop. The top of the rocky incline wasn’t too far ahead and he pushed and assisted Q hurriedly until they tumbled over it and onto the strip of high ground that would lead down to the giant pine forest and lake.

There Q remained splay legged and panting, eyes fixated but wide and panic-blind. James took a deep breath and managed to spy a crack in some fallen boulders that promised shelter. Q was already dumbly starting to get up and push forwards in an entirely single-minded fashion. Swiftly grabbing at the omega’s scruff in his jaws James carefully but firmly dragged him away from the continued trail and into safety for the remainder of the storm.

The gap between the fallen boulders was just big enough to push Q through and squeeze in after, the alpha’s back legs scrabbling a bit in the mud to force his bulkier form in. Glad that no one had been around to see the undignified squirm James huddled Q into a sheltered and fairly dry area.

Shivering and skinny in his wet fur Q looked a pathetic sight, eyes still wide and panting though he couldn’t get past the alpha’s body to keep up his quest for movement. Worrying that something greater had broken in Q than he feared James sat down, rump still exposed to the rain, and begun licking the excess water away from the dark wolf’s fur.

It took a while but Q seemed to break out of the dumb fear that had gripped him, gradually. After licking his lips a few times the younger wolf responded to James’ ministrations in an automatic fashion and begun lapping at the alpha’s nearest paw in reciprocation.

Sighing a bit in relief James crouched awkwardly down and curled them closer, mutually licking each other dry as the thunder unleashed its growls above them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you thank you for the response to last chapter, and everyone who said nice things about the pictures too! x3  
> So 00Q have finally left the den and are off! I hope to have the next chapter up... no later than Sunday, possibly before, we shall see!
> 
> Until then, have a good few days :D


	11. Fight.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello hello! I'm now back from holiday, so regular updates should ensue!
> 
> **Warning:** violence once more. Graphic depictions of violence, including images with violent wolf content.  
>  (But still fluff)  
> Enjoy!

[](http://imgur.com/LJzP1AG)

 

\---

 

With Q somewhat forced to remain in place and free from whatever terror had gripped him the day before, James managed to ensure they both got some sleep. The relief he felt was palpable the next morning when Q opened tense but focused eyes to greet him.

“We need more food. Would you rather stay here or come with me?” James somewhat held his breath for the answer, relieved when Q nudged his pale muzzle and shifted to stand. Especially after yesterday, he really didn’t want to leave Q on his own. Out of sight.

The younger wolf may well have been feeling the same, given how close he walked to James as they crossed the ridge between the two deep valleys, gradually descending.

Or, he might just have been feeling the effects of pushing too hard the day before. The way Q’s fur rubbed reliably alongside James’, ruffling with shakes, spoke volumes about how tiring this damn journey was.

Bond checked back regularly to nose the omega’s drooping snout encouragingly, but eventually they had to come to a stop, not an hour later. Q’s paws clearly couldn’t carry him, and James herded him into the shelter of a large rooted tree up-slope. They’d reached the start of the giant-pines now, the soft furry bark on them a deep red that the alpha pulled off to make a den-bed for Q under the cavernous roots.

To their left the near-cliff edge blocked off travel in the direction they needed. James frowned at the distance through the pines down to the lake they’d have to cross yet to reach pack-land. Snuffling at Q’s fluffed tail he allowed himself the moment of melancholy before Q rumbled at him questioningly. The alpha took a breath and pulled himself together.

“Stay here, I’ll bring back some mushrooms.” He’d rather give Q meat, but was loath to leave him long enough to hunt. There wasn’t likely to be anything bigger than a rabbit around as it was. The darker wolf’s forest soul eyes looked at him for a long moment, calculatingly, appraisingly, before nodding an okay.

Neither of them were too good at this, really. The situation that had thrown them together was beginning to show its fractures. Bond wasn’t quite sure what he could be in for. Q was largely sensible, curious and intelligent. Witty. Indisputably gorgeous and adorable. But yesterday had not been good. And what really did they know of each other? Was what they had enough to even get them home, let alone through the rest of their lives?

The bond told him yes, the soul of his wolf told him yes, but James couldn’t turn off the doubts in his mind.

He wasn’t quite sure either of them were, or maybe ever had been, capable of what their pack would soon demand of them. The unity of mating bonds should be commonplace, but now was so rare…

They’d have to father pups like this. Even if Q wasn’t the age and wolf he was, never mind the trauma he’d been put through, was _James_ ready for that? He’d never settled before.

Thankfully for the alpha’s distracted mind, his nose led him to mushrooms that were still within sight of Q. Gathering them up along with some berry-clad branches Bond dragged the haul back to Q. The omega was lying down on his side in the patch of sun coming through the roots, watching the leaves above and sky beyond.

Lobo but he must be exhausted. Q, however, turned over to him with surprisingly calm eyes, and rolled up enough to put his muzzle alongside James’ for a long moment and just breathe there. Surprised, the alpha simply remained still, even with his jaws covered in berry juice and itching to be cleaned.

“Thank you.” Q intoned after a while, and pulled back only to wrinkle his nose and eyes up in a laugh at James’ purple snout. Huffing, the pale wolf sat and swiped a paw over his muzzle. “Here, let me?”

Q shifted over and shyly licked at the juice-covered fur. Gaining no reprimand, the omega gained confidence and carefully licked clean the dirtied lips.

James remained still mostly so as not to scare off the gentle ministrations, but inside his heart was thumping at the simple, easy affection. His tail thumped too along the bark-strewn ground with happiness, ears pricked.

The small action from Q gave him hope. Never mind the future, for now, this was more than ok. He could get used to having Q beside him to help clean his muzzle. Bond would never have considered it a pleasure before.

They ate together and rested a bit, James resting his head on Q’s belly and enjoying the quiet.

Towards midday they pushed on, Q walking a bit steadier and James following his nose down through the undulating forest. They’d been padding along for a good hour before a familiar scent reached James’ nose. Alpha, and a known one at that.

“Stop.” James uffed, low and quiet. Q stilled instantly, raising his nose a bit to sniff and then freezing. “I know this scent…” James added, and then flicked his whiskers and nose at the slight ledge above them. “You walk up there, take the pack, I’ll scout them out down here.” Q didn’t move except to look wide-eyed at James where he was shrugging out of the complicated straps. “They’re from my pack, Q. It’s safe.” Relenting, reluctantly, the omega took the offered pack in his jaws and backed away warily, turning to the forest rise. They were near enough to the cliff edge that James knew no danger save clumsiness could befall Q from that side.

Trotting downhill a bit through the trees, James sniffed and scented as they walked along at parallel heights, Q depositing their bag into a thorny bush. The scent of alpha drew closer, heading for them. Despite his assurances to Q, James threw a swift warning growl quietly at the younger wolf, a few feet and meters above and away. Well camouflaged and slight, Q obediently melted into the background of some bushes whilst James strolled a few feet forwards and stood in view of the other alpha’s calm approach.

Through the trees appeared the familiar form of Silva’s large, muscled body. It was strange to see a wolf his own size after the week with Q. Even if he’d been expecting members of his pack to line the way this was sooner than he’d thought, which put James slightly on edge. Easy to spot in the leafy shade, the other wolf had a relaxed, but cocky gait and only just respectful tilt of the head. As oppose to any sort of provisions pack Silva had a stretching belt with a knife attached. The silver and pale yellow-backed body always had that same mocking smile to its movements as the other alpha trotted up close to James’ own assertive posture.

“James, good to see you my friend. And I hear congratulations are in order, yes? That howl was definitely yours.” There were many wolves in James’ pack, and whilst he knew them all, he was very aware that his very new priority did not, and was on a ledge not far from him. This was the first wolf they’d seen since bonding, and James could feel tingling threat at having anyone near to his omega.

“Silva.” James greeted tersely, and regarded the other wolf’s final approach stiffly. Silva eventually came into nosing range of James and hearing and scent range of Q, though probably not sight given the omega’s fuzzy vision.

“Where is the pretty thing then?” A rustling from above broke James’ focus and startled both alphas into looking up at the stricken desperation of Q’s body bursting out of his hiding place.

“James watch out! He’s the one who cut me with the knife!” That and the growl were the only warnings Bond had before his pack mate was on him.

-00Q00-

Q hadn’t pierced the scent out of the fog of his memories at first, the same that had been haunting him yesterday. But that voice. The words ‘pretty thing’ had shocked everything back into awful focus.

The alpha from the trees, with the knife. Near him and near James and James didn’t know.

Sickening panic so strong Q thought his heart might leap out snatched him in its jaws and the omega pushed himself out of the bush to the view of Bond and a similar sized wolf with a pale yellow back looking up at him.

“James watch out! He’s the one who cut me with the knife!” Snarling eyes spun first to him and then back to James, teeth bared, before his alpha’s gaze could swing back. Q’s wordless bark of danger went un-heard as the one James had called ‘Silva’ launched at the blonde wolf’s throat.

Only James’ swift reflexes saved him into twisting out of the way, offering shoulder instead of neck for jaws to close around. Q nearly fell off the ledge he had started so far forwards in horror and after righting himself James and Silva were nothing but a blur of snarling and torn fur.

Heart in his throat and rushing clouding his ears Q saw the surprise attack of the knife-wielding alpha gain advantage, James pushed back and thudding into a tree with a horrible thwack. Everything in Q seemed to still and die at the sight of James lying shaken, struggling to get up, blood on the pale fur. With a deadly silence the other alpha bared teeth and lowered his head, walking in for the kill.

This run had killed enough. Enough of what he was. And _not_ his James.

Without giving thought to the surging adrenalin and doubt Q leaped.

-00Q00-

Damn but Silva could fight. Dirty and underhand as it was James couldn’t help appreciating it as his head rang and he struggled to get to his feet. Silva would be striking, and lying down was a death sentence. Rage at the betrayal fuelled his movements into something closer resembling precision. Determination pushed his aching shoulder and head to commit back to the fight. The alpha wouldn’t fell him and get his mate alone.

Hauling onto his front legs James turned his teeth towards Silva’s slow and deathly silent approach. Saw the white gleam of fangs in jaws opening under focused brown eyes. He couldn’t get his paws under him quick enough, balance off, he was going to have to twist out of whatever hold Silva put on him and it wasn’t looking good. Snarling in fury James bunched his muscles and tensed only to hear another, lighter, familiar snarl match his own half-seconds before a small well known tri-coloured body lunged for Silva’s unsuspecting neck.

Roaring in shocked fury Silva staggered under the force of Q’s attack but didn’t go down. James shouted out a wordless cry of ‘no!’ but he was far too late and Silva regained his feet with a snarl and rose up to claw Q’s belly. Pushing and kicking Q twisted out the way and let go, landing on scrambling paws for a moment.

James lunged the same moment Silva did, panic giving him strength but not soon enough. He landed just short, teeth tearing fur from the silver wolf’s tail. Luckily Silva drew short too, the instant the alpha had launched for him Q turned like a well versed prey and ran.

The growl James let out was beyond human or animal as he gave chase to the pair, balance stabilizing. Q weaved through the trees quick as a fish through water until injuries and fatigue caught his paws and sent him stumbling into the alpha’s jaws.

Clearly enraged by the attack Silva bypassed the instinct to do no harm and closed his fangs around Q’s belly, raising him snarl-screaming into the air and thrashing the smaller body back and forth. The omega’s own jaws, upside down as they were, latched onto Silva’s belt and tore the knife from his body, flinging it towards his fast approaching mate with a shout of “James!”

Silva threw Q to the ground, to the cliff edge, bouncing and rolling and slipping as James leapt mid air and caught the knife. Holding one in his jaws was unnatural and foreign but he didn’t need precision now at this distance to fling it into Silva’s back.

The other alpha howled a scream and contorted, Thrashing and crashing blindly with teeth and claws away. James jumped over him, priorities on his mate as he saw the slumped form of Q’s upper half slowly sliding off the cliff to join his back legs.

Horror clogged his mouth as James whined and lunged to snatch quickly at the fur of Q’s scruff, paws skidding to a halt with spread toes and claws. Centimeters from the edge and jaw shaking with adrenaline around its precious cargo Bond stepped back, Q held mostly aloft, and gently dragged the limp form away from the edge to settle on the ground.

James took a hurried, frantic moment to nose over what appeared to be a shock-frozen or unconscious Q, panting, before turning to swing around. The sound of Silva crashing and thrashing his way through the forest had died out with eerie completeness, but his body was nowhere to be seen.

Wary, the alpha turned, growling, sniffing, trotting in widening semi circles around Q into the forest until determining Silva’s blood trail long gone and leading back the way the mated pair had come. His old instinct would be to go after and finish the job; Silva wouldn’t have gotten far with an injury like that. But there was no force on earth stronger than his instincts to now protect Q. His far too brave Q.

Silva wouldn’t last long like that anyway. And they’d hear him coming.

Giving the imposing pines one last look James turned to where his soul and nerves were calling him.

Seeing Q fight felt like nothing James had ever experienced before… Naked desperation in the omega’s body language that must have been the same throughout his run… Yet convicted, there was no denying that. James’ heart had nearly leapt through his mouth, and didn’t seem to want to return from being lodged in his throat as he approached the draped and bloodied form of Q.

That the omega had flung himself into fire for James… He couldn’t name the emotions for that, a mix of panicked anger at the foolishness and bone-deep wonder at it.

Trotting the last few steps the alpha could see the smaller male had woken, breathing with whines once again and lying too rigidly still, paws shaking with shock. James came snuffling up close too fast without thinking and nearly got a nasty bite on his nose when Q’s head swung round with a snapping snarl, whining on the end in pain.

“Easy! Easy, Q, its me, it’s just me.” James soothed, taking a limped step closer on the side of his damaged shoulder. His head was hurting again too, and back from where he’d struck the bark. But there was no time for that now. Crouching down to his belly James whined and crept closer to Q, the omega’s teeth still bared in a shaky aggression even though his head had fallen back to the earth.

Whining high and encouragingly, coaxingly, James nosed closer until their snouts touched gently. Letting their noses rest together for a moment and flicking his gaze over Q’s slit-open and unfocused eyes. The alpha licked slowly and soothingly, working his way down Q’s muzzle and then along the bridge of his nose, smoothing the wrinkles away between the eyes. Gently he finally lathed the two cream patches, the omega finally relaxing and softening into whimpers at the now familiar touch.

A pained keen from the younger wolf James tried to shush with a nose rub through the thick fur on his neck before slowly moving to examine the bite wounds.

“Stay still for me Q.” James requested, voice quiet and calm. Q’s paws were still shivering and jittering like a half felled deer, but despite the shock and pain the omega didn’t move when examined.

Silva’s clawing hadn’t been able to penetrate Q’s thick coat more than to shed some hair, but the vicious bite wound had left multiple punctures torn from the thrashing. There was no telling how much Q’s bruises had worsened too, but for now James did what he could.

Carefully, and wary of causing more pain and incurring another attack, James licked clean Q’s wounds until he was satisfied. The shaking had turned full-body and was coupled with agonized whimpers by the time he finished, but it was at least done. Quickly swiping and licking his muzzle clean of blood James sat up and turned to Q.

“I need to get the pack, and then we’ll find somewhere to bed down, alright. I’ll be right back, just breathe slowly.” Q whimpered out something like a ‘no’ at the thought of James leaving, and it both agonized and warmed the alpha’s heart. Ducking down for a firm, desperate nuzzle that moved Q’s head without him being able to reciprocate, James rumbled a noise into the thick fur. “I won’t leave you.” He whispered, and then turned to run before the will failed him.

Their pack wasn’t a minute away and back at a full sprint, but it still felt too long.

Q was quivering worse when he got back, and James shifted into his skin to gently pull up Q’s upper lip and see the pale colour of his gums. Definitely in shock. Deftly he pulled out and fixed some bandages around the omega’s middle before running a soothing hand through his soft fur, catching whatever was left of the frayed attention.

“I’ll have to carry you now. It’ll hurt a bit, but try not to bite me.” Q’s dazed green eyes cracked open, turned to look at James with far too much of the world in them, and simply whined a similie of the man’s name.

“Lobo, Q.” James cursed, feeling the increasing shakes himself at their situation, knowing they both needed safety and warmth soon before the sun went down. He leant down enough to pick Q’s head up with his hands, the younger wolf slightly cross-eyed in fatigue, and pressed a careful kiss to his forehead on the velvet-soft fur. “You’re too bloody brave, you know. Remind me never to doubt you.” Q blinked for a moment, eyes still fuzzy, and then just licked James’ chin and face where he could reach. “Okay, let’s get you denned somewhere. I’ll be careful.”

The assurance possibly didn’t count for much, but other then some flinches and a warning growl when hands reached some of the omega’s more bruised areas, Q was a perfect patient. The exhaustion probably helped, Q went nearly entirely limp in his arms, a touch heavy, lolling but shaking every now and then. James carried him like a baby, large wolf head flopping over one of the alpha’s shoulders as body and limbs remained curled and folded in his arms.

James headed downhill, reaching the valley bottom and searching along the edges of another aged rockslide for a suitable den. There was a stream close by to follow to the lake, and hopefully some good foraging in the bracken, maybe even fish if his shoulder was up to it later. A wide entrance finally made itself known to Bond, the ancient scent of bear lingering but long since deceased, imbued into the rock. It would, however, mask their own scent somewhat. Especially once James concealed the entrance.

Firstly he laid Q outside, placing a grounding hand in his scruff before going to tear off more soft bark to line the den with. The trees here had great peeling sheaths of the stuff and would help further disguise the smell of omega in the den for at least a time. After that Q was lifted again and carefully placed inside before James insulated him in with more bark and leaves. The front of the entrance was easily covered with fallen debris and branches after the alpha had collected fresh water and some food.

Job done, and shoulder aching fiercely along with his head, James shifted into fur and curled up alongside Q. The air was already warmer in the makeshift den, the extra coatings of bark helping to keep a little coil of heat where the wolves lay curled in the middle of the nest. As James curved close against Q, he hoped he’d done enough to save them for the night.

No rest came to him as images of Silva’s traitorous teeth and Q’s flying body circled before his eyes.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [](http://imgur.com/IsJHTtB)
> 
> Thank you for comments and kudos on last chapter, I'm glad people have enjoyed the wolfie-ness and Q's vision problems. Not long to go now till the end of part 1, duh duh duh!  
> The above picture was simply another I couldn't resist doing, the aftermath of 00Q's Silva fight, of course. I had a lot of fun doing the background... and just trying to make Q look helpless and Bond worried x3  
> Hope you enjoyed and see you next chapter!


	12. Recover.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The chapter some of you may have been waiting for...  
> For everyone else, simply enjoy another chapter!  
> This feels a little late this week, am I? Either way, this is the penultimate chapter for Part 1. so without further ado;

[](http://imgur.com/MRJPts4)

 

\---

 

Q couldn’t move. He didn’t want to even think about moving. The last day he’d barely been conscious and only woken up twice, briefly, to James’ rather troubled nose.

Today didn’t feel much better.

A deep inhale and sigh out turned into a long, solitary howl. Quiet, miserable. Next to him James’ warm pelt ruffled and the larger wolf’s head rested on his shoulders with a worried huff and flick of ears. Q let his howl peter out weakly into a muffled whimper and just lay there, hurting.

James nudged closer, nosed him gently, whuffled small encouraging noises that broke Q a little bit.

He was immensely relieved that James was still here, was alive and mostly well, but everything hurt and he felt too weak to move. _This_ , this was what he had expected from The Run. It had just taken longer to happen. And it wasn’t too bad, really, could have been so much worse, but Q was struggling to get past the bone deep misery and pain of everything that had happened. Of the viciousness.

He’d always expected it for himself, been terrified of it… He’d never imagined being terrified of betrayal and violence befalling his alpha.

It all seemed incredibly hopeless. Not his own situation, which was still relatively better than expected, entirely thanks to the sort of man James was, but for all of wolf kind.

If they’d resorted to this level of ruthlessness between pack members, what hope did they ever, ever have?

There were only a handful of omegas, probably less then fifteen all ages included, and an overwhelming number of alphas. They’d never solve this crisis. And wherever he was going couldn’t have the answer to that. Packs would turn on each other; it would be the scent of death from the Badlands everywhere…

So… what was the point?

They’d never really, _really_ , ever be safe. And fuck it all but Q wanted to be safe. He wanted more than that.

“Hey, you alright?” James asked, standing and shifting around till he could lie down in line with Q’s muzzle and lick there gently. The omega took a shuddering breath and tried to not let the depression and agony of his soul and body grip him.

“No, not really.” For a moment James was silent, the sounds of the day neither of them were healthy enough to be out in quiet inside the den.

“No. Me neither.” Q opened his blurry eyes and wordlessly brought their noses together, glad, at least, for this.

-00Q00-

They spent three rather nerve-wracking days for James in the old bear den. Q was in and out of it and clearly in a lot of pain. James had to redress his wounds several times with polstice to clean infection, and had resorted to encouraging the young omega to eat some of the sopophoric mushrooms he’d found in the hopes that rest would help. The fact that Q hadn’t fought him on it didn’t fill James with confidence.

He’d at least managed some fishing, and general scavenging, his own wounds leaving him with aches but little else. Q was only getting weaker.

This morning he hadn’t been able to eat, throwing up instead until he was whining from the pain of it. James had dragged out the dirtied bark strips and thrown them into the stream.

The feeling of impotence was crawling back up his spine. It was hateful. James didn’t want this to be either of their experience of getting to know one another, and he hated The Run ever more by the day.

Would this be the fate of their pups? Both omega and alpha alike, condemned to suffer brutality or a lack of a bond? How long could something like this go on for before there was utter revolt?

Back, and it seemed so long ago now, when M had been detailing her plans to him the idea of having a breeding omega in the pack seemed a godsend. Silva’s own jealousy and betrayal had proven otherwise.

If Q didn’t need the medical help that his pack would offer, and didn’t have family of his own, James would take him away somewhere. Start their own pack in far distant lands. He was half of a mind to do it, still, except that Q would never make that kind of a journey…

It was becoming an increasing doubt that Q would even make _this_ journey. And that alone was more than his heart could take.

They couldn’t stay here longer though. If Silva was out there there could be others similarly motivated. James couldn’t risk howling for help. Had to trust that closer to pack boundary M would be enough of a threat to ensure they were welcomed rather than torn away from each other.

Shivering, James shook himself and went back into the den from his guarding position. Q looked up at him weakly.

“James,” Instantly he was closer, nose resting on the younger wolf’s head for the comfort of his scent. “C-can I have, more food?” Q stumbled out, voice feeble and a touch breathless.

Grunting in assent, and hoping to god Q could keep it down, James ferreted through their pack to withdraw the hopeful blandest and least upsetting of their scavenged food, offering it to Q in small pieces.

Q lay chewing doggedly and James settled next to him, feeling the omega switch to lean their weights together, leaning a little less on his injured belly.

And that was a thought too, was Q even still a reproductive omega? Given all he’d been through, there was a chance. Though part of him raged at the thought, a larger, surprisingly large part of him, didn’t care. A small part of his mind even felt relief.

If Q couldn’t breed, maybe he, they’d, both be left alone.

“You’ll be fine.” Bond murmured, rubbing his head over the back of Q’s neck slowly, soothing himself with the feeling of their fur rustling together. “Just get better, you’ll be fine.”

Q stopped chewing to swallow and lay, sharing in James’ tentitivity.

The alpha could understand. He didn’t feel very reassured either.

-00Q00-

Five days, five days they’d been in the old bear den by the stream, and now James thought his pack would definitely be worried. Like him, they wouldn’t be able to howl though in case it risked throwing danger down upon their newly mated pair. They had to move. Before they both got weaker still.

Q was managing to keep down food now, at least, though he wasn’t much better overall. And when James finally managed to coax him into his more delicate skin, the damage looked even worse, and the shadows around drawn eyes didn’t help.

“Here, here let me put this on you, shh shh I know. I know.” Q winced and gasped his way through being dressed. They didn’t have much by the way of clothes, two solitary shirts being it, but James put them on the younger wolf to help keep the bandages clean and secure.

Swamped in the large shirts, Q almost looked smaller, though at least slightly protected.

James tried and failed to imagine what Q looked like without bruises.

“Are we moving, then?” Q asked, quietly, voice not up to much. James bent close on impulse and kissed Q, hand rubbing firmly at the back of his neck with some in-born desperation.

“You tell me if we need to stop. And keep that keen nose of yours out when you can, alright. Ears too.”

“Alright.” Q nodded, a small shred of determination leaking through under the pain and misery. Nodding, the alpha massaged Q’s neck, shoulders and back quickly, a task he’d taken to in the areas he could, in an attempt to keep Q limber, and then pulled the pack on to rest on his chest.

Getting Q onto his back was something of a struggle, the omega mostly doing the work himself and then remaining draped on him tensely, shaking once more at the strain caused.

“Good, gorgeous.” James praised, encouraged, begged; he was beyond trying to untangle the emotions apart, now.

They set off early morning and had to stop as soon as James could find a decently enclosed area around noon. Q was shuddering bodily again and keeping his mouth tightly shut, face an awful grey. James stroked him and soothed and massaged gently whilst he tried to get his own breath back.

For the victorious mated couple of The Run, they looked a bloody mess.

-00Q00-

Despite the drop in temperature the weather had at least stayed fair. Both wolves were thankful for that much as they approached the great lake nearly at the boundary of No Man’s Land. Cross it, and they were nearly in the clear. At least that was how Q understood it.

The going had been hard and James had taken the brunt of that. Q’s wounds were largely improved and he could walk for a bit now but was encouraged more to rest. Given the mountain they had to climb, Q couldn’t help but agree. So he rested feeling both rather obsolete and rather exhausted on Bond’s back, being carried through the staggeringly large pines as they neared the hopeful fording point. Q’s arms hung loosely around James’ neck, the alpha’s sturdy arms caught under his legs and the warm press of back against his chest. They didn’t always talk, calm silence often descending between the two of them, and Q was abruptly glad of it when he heard a rustling up ahead.

“Wait.” He whispered, pressing a hand to James’ chest and stilling the alert alpha. The rustling sounded again as they both listened, followed by a couple of drawing-closer voices having what sounded like an argument.

“All I’m saying is, we should turn back, wait around the lake, we know there’s water there at least-“

“I can’t sit there _waiting_ John.”

James sniffed the air as did Q and the surprising scent of beta rather mollified their attempts at getting undercover. Considering the great pines grew so far apart and they were in the open, there wasn’t the time anyway before one medium-tall lanky and one short more compact wolf stepped out from behind some bushes and also froze upon seeing the two practically naked humans before them. The tall dark wolf fixed grey-blue eyes on them, wiry hair long and unkempt. The shorter grey beside him raised its nose and took a deep sniff.

“Q,” James’ voice was all growl and warning as he lowered to the ground, letting Q and the pack slide off as he bared his teeth. The black wolf whose eyes were transfixed with Q’s own had pricked and straightened at the name. “I don’t know them.”

“I…” Q could barely see the details that far away, and surely he was going mad because that scent… “Sherlock?”

The black wolf whined low and urgently as he sprang forwards despite the shout of ‘Sher- wait!’ from his companion. James was into his fur in seconds, tail up and aggressive with his teeth out. Q whined and shivered into his fur clumsily, getting caught in the shirt he was wearing and struggling to get out with rumbles of annoyance. By the time gentle jaws had helped relieve him of his material trappings and Q could see again, the amusement in the other three wolves eyes had lightened the mood.

“Q.” And clearly, now, that _was_ Sherlock stepping forwards. James growled and took up point once again and Q fought to stand.

“Please, James, he’s my brother.”

“You _do_ know him then.” The alpha confirmed, stepping back a bit into Q’s space so that their fur rubbed together.

“Yes.”

“I’m his brother, how you couldn’t tell is beyond me-“

“Uh, Sherlock, the scent covering thing-a-me-jigs.” The grey wolf piped up, sounding exasperated.

“Ah.”

And now that Q could hear his voice properly he was shaking, whining, the last time he’d seen his brother had been over a year ago when there had been that nightmare fire fight with Moriarty and Sherlock had been chased out. The achingly familiar blue-grey eyes turned to Q.

“Hello little brother.” Q’s whines caught in his throat and James gave them both a glance, took a deep breath, and nudged Q into walking forwards with him. The omega stumbled at first and Sherlock stiffened, but allowed James to sniff him briefly without taking eyes off of Q.

To be honest it was a little surprising, the brother he’d known wouldn’t have stood for such pleasentries. That was what had gotten him into trouble.

“Okay.” James nodded and Q half squirmed half dashed forwards on weak legs to snuffle at Sherlock’s muzzle. There was a great shuddering breath from the older wolf before he was all over Q rubbing and sniffing and nuzzling, examining. Q flumped to the ground, easily recalling his brother’s over enthusiastic if slightly scientific greetings, and wrapping his front paws in a too serious to be playful grip around his brother’s waist.

The growls of anger coming from Sherlock only increased as he scented more damage, and there were suddenly hands on him rather than paws as the beta carefully rolled him over. Q turned into his skin and flushed a little at the careful handling and fuming above him. James casually stepped in, buffeting Sherlock away with a little bump and settling his furred body over Q’s, covering him with a little growl. The feel of James’ fur protecting his modesty caused the omega to flush a little more, half in gratitude, and he wrapped his arms around the alpha’s strong neck.

“So it is true.” Sherlock confirmed appraisingly, kneeling back utterly unabashed at his nakedness. “I heard your howling.” Q blinked and took in his brother’s face properly. He looked older, sharper. There were things in his eyes now that Q couldn’t share with him.

“How are you here?” He finally questioned, softly, shifting to lean on his elbows under James with difficulty. The alpha grumbled and settled for curling over Q’s lower half and legs, watching keenly. Sherlock’s expression closeted and narrowed on the ground between them.

“I forgot the date, and then when word spread about a heat, I realized it had to be yours. Posing as beta wardens was easy enough.” Blue-grey eyes flicked to Q’s green-grey ones. “I underestimated the distance, or else I would have gotten to you first.”

James’ warning growl had Sherlock ‘tch’ing but also shifting away slightly. It was a shying away that Q had only seen his brother do once before; moments before Moriarty bore down on his neck and the beta turned tail and ran.

Something had stuck with him from it.

As if sensing the tension the grey wolf padded up politely and bent to let James sniff him before scenting the air vaguely around Q. The omega watched him settle next to Sherlock and nudge him pointedly. Grumbling, Sherlock focused a bit.

“This is John, my mate.”

James was startled by the concept enough to sit up, ears pricked. Q shook his head a little.

“W-what?”

“Hello.” John replied pleasantly, wrinkling his nose. James cocked his head.

“But you’re both male.”

“So are you.” Sherlock scoffed.

“But neither of you can _breed_.” The alpha corrected, gruffly curious. John huffed a laugh.

“Never much been one for my own pups anyway.”

“So alpha-typical.” Sherlock rolled his eyes before turning them on Q. “And you… what happened. Tell me you didn’t let this lap dog brutalize you first.” Though it was Sherlock’s manner to instigate, the concept of both James hurting him and Q allowing such a thing to happen struck far too close to home and he lurched into fur and snapped the air just short of his quickly ducking brother’s shoulder. James had grabbed his scruff and was easing him back to the ground the instant Q’s legs predictably, frustratingly, gave out.

“You have no, no idea, no _Blanca damn inkling_ about _any_ of it!” Q panted, raged. How could anyone else understand how it felt to keep running when your other dueling instinct was to submit? Q thought of dark and blue up on that cliff, and how he’d been so close to giving up then. Wondered if he wouldn’t have had to let go for even less than that if he had been carried through his heat by some monster. At what point would his instincts have kicked in anyway?

No matter what, it was only too clear to Q now just how lucky he’d been washing up near James. He just didn’t need his mind further haunted by the thought of just how badly things nearly went… How close he’d even come to being _Moriarty’s_. Feeling sick Q shook his head in horror at Sherlock, who was looking slightly wide-eyed, and turned away with a small breathed noise of frustrated pain.

“Q, I’m-” Sherlock begun, but was cut off with a snap of James’ teeth in warning. Taking a breath instead, the beta continued slowly. “I had to know, I’m sorry.” Q couldn’t quite focus for a moment through the nausea at the words and agony of moving after some time spent sedentary. Would Sherlock have loved him less, had he been forced to mate with a monster?

Whining, Q looked up to see John nosing closer submissively to James, body appeasing and ignoring Sherlock’s frustrated attempts to further diffuse the situation that weren’t really working.

“I was going to snatch you away were that the case- oh don’t growl at me like that- but you seem to have exceeded expectations- yes yes you have too, I’d be able to smell if any of that damage was by you you big-“

“I’m a doctor, I can help him, will you let me take a look?” John finally just interrupted with a sharp sigh, reducing Sherlock to grumbles. Q tried to get back up, and was surprised to find James lying down beside him, nosing gently, asking him, body still tense from confusion of whether Sherlock was a threat or not.

“Okay.” Q breathed, meeting James’ clear blue eyes.

“Okay.” James agreed, sat back and turned into his skin, beckoning both relieved betas back closer.

It was Q’s turn to shy away a bit, this time from John’s foreign touch even as the older beta soothed him and James’ hand remained securingly on his lower back. To be touching anyone other than James seemed odd.

“Easy now, I’ll just take a look.”

Sherlock came over close too, silently fuming as his mate’s hands uncovered more damage.

“Who did this to you?” The man growled, fingers finding Q’s furred nose and allowing him to lick before rubbing between his ears. “Just tell me they didn’t get into you first.”

“They didn’t.” James replied, voice lethally assured but hand tightening its hold on Q at the thought of another alpha mating his omega.

“They tried.” Q whispered, strangled, admitting more than he’d thought he could. “And others, many others, were brutes, but not my James.” The possession in his sentence slipped out subconsciously and though Q ducked his head between his paws embarrassedly he didn’t regret the words. Especially when James’ hand slid slow and warmingly up and down his spine.

Sherlock, it appeared, was appeased by their interaction, and relaxed some held tension.

“In that case how do you do?”

“Bond, James Bond. MI6.” Since howls weren’t always easily translatable into words, second introductions were often necessary between wolves.

“Sherlock Holmes. We’re our own pack.”

“’Scuse me, could you all move please, thank you.” John interrupted, in his skin now. “Could you roll over please?” The beta asked Q pleasantly, and with a quick flick of eyes to check James was still guarding him Q complied. John hissed a bit at the sight of the partially-healed bite marks and tearing on his stomach, but took a steadying breath too.

“Right, I should be able to do something for this. But if you want to cross the lake I suggest we do that first, no sense wetting the bandages. If you think you can make it, that is.” Q wasn’t sure he could make it at all. James focused on the doctor’s and Sherlock’s faces after tearing his gaze away from Q.

“This evening. We’ll rest here for a few hours. There’s a den I know of on the other side that should be safe for the night.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> :D And then there was proper Bondlock. Hope you all enjoyed! Sherlock is, as ever, rather acerbic with his words, but I hope you could also see that he cared. John as a wolf is surprisingly challenging for me to write, which is interesting.  
> But, dear god, I was not prepared for how cute his wolf pic would turn out to be (the little grey one on the right hand side) usually it's Q! The darker wolf is, of course, Sherlock.
> 
> Thank you gorgeous readers/commenters/kudosers for all the support and interest. I sometimes dance in work because of you. Every time one of my colleagues gives me the odd-eye, I silently pat you on the back. You're grrrreat!  
> See you next chapter, which will be between the 3-5 day mark as usual n_n  
> Ciao!


	13. Go

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Whoops, bit of a wait, sorry guys! But, but, there are puppies at my place of work now! They're very distracting x3 And it's their birthday today, and I had to resist squishing them ever so slightly out of love and joy.... Um, yes, anyway! Onto the story!
> 
> Enjoy!

[](http://imgur.com/cn9kf8K)

 

\---

 

Bond led Q into a patch of moss-lined tree roots surrounded by some ferns to rest whilst the three healthy wolves took turns foraging for food. There was a sense of tension and waiting. Q had strained a few times to try and get a look at this lake, at the mountain beyond where James lived… Where _he’d_ be living. But the giant pines prevented him seeing either. He could smell the water, at least, but the distant heights of the snow mountains were impossible amidst the trees.

Even without the sight there was the sense coiling in Q’s belly and chest of things nearly being over, of the last push. The others seemed on high alert too.

“We were ambushed once already.” James informed the others when John asked why the pair of them were so tense and hyper-vigilant.

“What?”

“By who?” John appeared upset and scandalized, Sherlock furious. James just growled, staying in wolf form with Q and putting a paw over the omega’s waist protectively. The younger wolf turned from watching his alpha’s resentful rage to his brother.

“A wolf called Silva, perhaps you’ve heard of him? He’s, or he _was_ , one of James’ pack.” The cream wolf rumbled in agreement at the suggestion of cutting pack ties with the wolf. There was no doubt that should Silva have survived he would no longer be welcome in the MI6 pack.

“Silva?” Sherlock questioned sharply, John glancing with worried realization between the lot of them.

“He may have had a vendetta.” James added, shifting into his skin and stroking carefully down the uninjured side of Q’s right hind leg. Glancing back Q met James’ eyes, his leg shifting to press against the gentle hold.

“Explain.” Sherlock demanded, blue-grey gaze flicking between the two of them. Q sighed and, fluidly as he could shifted into his skin and up into a sitting position, casually covering his privates best he could with an arm and leg-crook.

“He came after me with a knife.” Q supplied blandly, but with a bitter edge that took even him by surprise with how vehement it was. But his head remained high, even if it was tensely held.

Sherlock, however, couldn’t stop staring at Q’s beaten and battered body now that it was uncovered by James’ fur. The knife-cut, mostly scabbing and recovering, but swollen and heavily bruised, was clearly visible. Worse still were the bloody bandages on his belly.

Against the grain of comfortability he could see Sherlock’s eyes flitting over his body, the beta’s mouth moved silently, mouthing deductions that were agonizingly accurate.

_Crushed; rocks. Scratches; nails, thorns. Bruises; hand prints…_ Q could almost hear the words. Sherlock eventually met the younger wolf’s gaze, who was surprised to feel his eyes dampen.

“Tell me, brother.” Q lowered his gaze, opened his mouth, and did. He told them nearly everything, those three wolves, one of which he barely knew, one he hadn’t seen in years, and one who he was tied for life with.

-00Q00-

James felt a bit like he’d been shown something, not sacred, but that he shouldn’t know.

Q had clearly held little back when he’d told them what he’d been through, and was left grey and drained at the end of it, but oddly relaxed. Sherlock’s face had frozen when his brother spoke of Moriarty and the fight at the top of the Reichenbach falls. A darkness stole over the beta even as John reached out to grip his trembling hand.

The alpha had pulled him close after he was finished, held him tightly. Sherlock had wriggled into his fur and between them impudently, but Q had shifted too and James followed, John with a whine and shiver came along too.

It wasn’t what he’d expected, to end up in a puppy pile the likes of which he hadn’t done since he and Alec were young together. With his new mate and two near-complete strangers. It felt like they’d made a pact, some private, timeless thing…

It felt like they’d made a pack.

As the light started lowering towards evening, the conversation recovered back to its dark path.

“I don’t know about this Silva character. He could just as well have been working to his own ends, but tensions have been rising throughout the packs. Especially the ones with less power within the structure.”

“Mm.” John jumped in whilst Sherlock paused to scowl, crossing one paw over the other. The grey beta flicked his ears. “We’d been trying to get to the bottom of some supposed coalition that’s been going on.” James perked up at this, frowning along with Q.

“Coalition? Of what? Packs might form alliances, pacts, but-“

“Hunting grounds, poaching-“

“Poaching?” Q butted in, confused, Sherlock’s lips tightened.

“The situation is more grave than just this one Run, brother.” The ominous tension didn’t seem to want to break until James forced it, something ugly coiling in his gut at the thought that didn’t want voicing…

“Poaching what?” He asked, warily. The dark furred beta met his eyes relentlessly.

“Wolves.”

“They’re poaching-“ Q’s weak voice was cut across.

“Wolves from some packs have gone missing, but within the smaller packs in the dense forests things are becoming so intermingled that finding the missing ones is impossible.” John supplied.

“What wolves?” Q asked, still looking, sounding, awfully young and hurt with confusion. Sherlock’s eyes met his, looking almost tragic and pained at once.

“Oh brother, can’t you guess? You were always smarter than the rest of them.” James watched as Q swallowed with dread.

“Like me? But, there’s so few.” He bit out. Sherlock almost sneered.

“Not quite.” And then nodded to James. “Like him.” The alpha felt his eyes go wide as three other pairs turn to him, Sherlock’s almost vicious with _delight_ of all things at the plot he was indicating at thickening.

“Alphas, they’re taking alphas?” Q murmured, gaze flicking around.

James could feel realization sinking in, cogs turning.

M’s whole stand on this had been frighteningly determined from the get-go. Did she know about this? Surely not, or she wouldn’t have sent her best alphas into the run where murder was easy, or capture, both. In the mountains where they lived they could grow strong, but they were isolated from information too. Old and powerful and out of the loop.

Packs like Q’s and others down in the valley and thick trees ran into each other more, had to know each other and cooperate or fight in a way the MI6 and even MI5 packs didn’t. It was why M put so much stock in information gathering in the first place, not to mention loyalty.

“But poached alphas, that’s a recipe for disaster.” James argued. He’d had run-ins before, and you always banded with your co-captives before the enemy. There was a long, uncomfortable silence before Q voiced something unthinkable.

“…Not if they’re willing.” James looked at him sharply, surprised. Q met his gaze with a grim sort of calm. “Not everyone’s as loyal as you, just think about Silva.” Frustratingly, and rather sickeningly, James couldn’t deny that point. Though he was loathe to think of the betrayal against his pack.

“And what would that be useful for?” Sherlock prompted. Again, it was Q’s shaky voice that answered.

“War? But that’s, there hasn’t been,”

“Not for years, no.” Sherlock confirmed grimly, but with satisfaction. This time it was James’ turn to add to the tension gripping their small group.

“But these things come around, and for worse reasons than the state of things at the moment.”

They all fell silent at that for a while. No proof, no confirmation, no way to know for sure.

Fatigue tried to grip James and he had to shake the feeling off. He didn’t need to think about a potential second Great War on top of everything else. His priority was, had to be, getting Q to whatever relative safety he could. Anything else would be dealt with later.

“Come on, the lake isn’t far, if we go now we should get across before dark.”

Lobo damn him if he let fear of an unknowable future prevent him from getting Q back to his pack.

-00Q00-

The water of the lake was cool against Q’s nose as he sniffed it, gentle rippling sounds calm and quiet in the evening. It was a little daunting, and the lake was fittingly huge, marking as a divide between his past and his future. On the other side of this lake, he was no longer simply Q, or even The Omega. With a future so uncertain, Q wasn’t sure he was ready for it.

“Come on, we’ll cut in over here.” James stipulated, gently, and nosed Q encouragingly towards a set of stepping stones that went out some way into the lake. Sherlock and John were already over the rocks and swimming for shore, acting as scouts.

Q took a breath and followed wobblingly after James’ paw prints. The moss on the rocks was slippery under his unsteady pads.

“The mud at the shore is too sticky to wade through.” James informed, pouncing neatly down onto the last, lower rock that led them into the lake proper. Q wasn’t entirely convinced of his stamina for swimming across the great body of water, but it was now or never. And James could hardly swim pulling him along in their skin with his injured shoulder.

Still, even the drop down to the last rock seemed like a Lobo-sent test rather than the simple obstacle James had made it look like. Whining a bit, Q crept to the edge and settled down on his hurt belly, peering over at the sunset-lit water and James’ encouraging gaze.

“You can do it.”

Whether it was the re-living of his ordeal earlier, or the threat of the world at large, Q wasn’t sure but something today had sapped his strength and hope despite the hours of rest.

James’ calm, strong blue gaze met his and caught his focus, the alpha’s back paws standing under the water.

“Just one last push, then you’re safe.” It wasn’t a truth he particularly believed right now, but he wanted it so Blanca-damn badly that some part of him just gave in.

At the very least, James hadn’t let him down yet, and that was something he could believe in.

With a rather painful and barely-controlled slip slide Q managed to get his paws on the rock below and not quite crush himself or fall off it thanks to James’ quick support.

“Alright? Just take it gently, I’ll be with you.” Q’s skin was too delicate to attempt swimming right now, so paddling as a wolf would have to do. The water was just on the ok side of too-cool and helped bear his weight, but it was only thanks to James’ presence and encouragement, more often enough outright bodily support, that a rather bedraggled omega made it to the other side.

By the time James helped nudge him up the opposite bank with Sherlock helping to pull him by the scruff, Q was shaking and couldn’t muster the energy to shake off, legs repeatedly going limp beneath him.

“The den’s not far, this way.” James panted, turning back into his skin and scooping up Q’s sodden wolf form.

Lolling and barely awake, Q registered just enough to note that the smells were different over here, and the birds didn’t sing the same tunes. As soon as he was laid down in an enclosed, warm if dusty smelling space, the omega couldn’t keep his eyes open any longer and succumbed to exhaustion beside his mate.

“We can’t go all the way with you right now. I need to investigate this new threat. Amongst other things.” The words flitted through his hearing enough for Q to attempt raising his muzzle in protest, whining slightly. He didn’t want Sherlock to leave. Not now they’d finally found each other again. It was John’s grey snout, surprisingly, that nosed him quiet gently.

“Let him go, let him go.” The beta soothed, coaxed. Q wanted to fight him, but couldn’t quite muster up the energy, having to lie back down fully with a whimper of regret.

“Report back to us, tell us what you find.” James requested firmly, voice lulling and deep to Q’s ears.

“We will.”

The promise was better than nothing, but Q couldn’t help still feeling daunted and upset. He had his James, but he’d feel better if they both had more support than that. The alpha settled against him more comfortably, and turned to lick the excess water off Q’s fur. Despite the turmoil off thoughts and emotions in him, Q couldn’t help but be soothed into sleep.

Whatever came next, well, they’d have each other this time, at least. Him and James, rather than just him and his own panic.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [](http://imgur.com/8rk2Cqr)
> 
> And thus ends Part 1 of this story. I am currently writing Part 2 and predict starting to add it (maybe in a new story? Not sure yet) in about 2-3 weeks. Sorry for the wait! But I like to be a bit ahead with this story, when I can!
> 
> I hope you've all enjoyed, and apologies for this chapter being relatively short, it was hard to decide where to divide it up. I've really loved reading all the comments you guys have written and get a kick from each hit and kudos! You guys make my day!
> 
> So thanks for reading this wolfie tale, and I'm looking forward to seeing you all in the next part :D  
> Till then guys!

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading, comments, kudos and critique appreciated :3


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